Dust to Dust
by Wyncrer
Summary: After initiation, Pyrrha Nikos is faced with a new challenge. She has dealt with everything that comes with being famous, but how will she handle everything that comes with being a student at Beacon? And as she and the rest of Team JNPR quickly become embroiled in a villainous plot revolving around Dust, how will she handle the trials and dangers ahead? Alt. timeline to the canon.
1. A New Beginning

**Chapter 1 – A New Beginning**

Pyrrha Nikos stepped out into the warm afternoon air. In the room behind her, she could hear the gossip between the reporters for different magazines throughout Vale. When she agreed to the interview, she didn't realise just how forceful they were going to be with their questions. She let out a deep sigh. _Far out, they tire me out more than some fights,_ she thought to herself light-heartedly. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath of the welcoming air and began striding toward the amphitheatre, which doubled as a training arena. After all, she couldn't afford to miss class.

"Is that Pyrrha Nikos?"

"I still can't believe she's here at Beacon. There's no way I want to fight her."

"Yeah, she's far too strong for any of us to take on."

Pyrrha quickened her pace a little. As she headed for the amphitheatre, she could feel every set of eyes gazing upon her as she walked, almost as if she had some sort of physical affliction. _After all this time, you'd think I'd be used to it,_ she thought. _I still don't get why people can't just treat me as another person. It's not like I'm any different from them, just a bit better at fighting is all._ In the end, she welcomed the encompassing walls of the building, as they put her out of sight of many of the onlookers.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha!" a voice came from her left.

Turning toward the voice, Pyrrha noticed Jaune walking toward her, his usual smile on his face. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Jaune had had no idea who she was before the initiation only a few days ago. _I get that he's not skilled and all, but you would've thought he paid some attention to the worlds of hunters and huntresses before he came here, but apparently not. It's just nice to hear his voice, one that sees me as a friend and not an idol._

"Hey, Jaune," Pyrrha said in a happy voice. "It's good to see you today. How have you been?"

"I've been better," Jaune admitted. "I ran into Cardin in the hallway on the way here. I don't understand why that guy seems to have it out for me."

"Bullies like him only care about attention," Pyrrha offered. "Just ignore him and he'll go away eventually."

"Yeah, I sure hope so," Jaune said with a slight nod.

"You ready for the practise bouts today?" Pyrrha asked.

"I… uh, yeah, sure!" Jaune managed to splutter eventually. "Couldn't be more ready. You know me, always ready for a fight."

"Jaune, you don't have your equipment," Pyrrha noted.

"I… yeah," Jaune said defeatedly. "Tell Glynda that I'll be back soon."

Pyrrha laughed slightly. "Of course, Jaune, of course. Just hurry back, okay? Can't afford you to miss your fight."

"Of course not. Save me a seat!" the blonde-haired boy said as he rushed out the door Pyrrha had just come through.

After informing Glynda Goodwitch of Jaune's error, much to Glynda's distaste and anger, Pyrrha took her place in the stands to watch the sparring matches that would be happening today. Although she wasn't one of the first to be seated for the class, she soon realised that no one else came to sit in her area of the stands apart from Ren and Nora. _I mean, we are on the same team,_ Pyrrha thought to herself. _But they're nice people too. Nora is probably just too energetic to care about who I am to be honest. I still don't get why Ren and her are so close. They're polar opposites._

"Hey Pyrrha, have you seen Jaune?" Ren asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh, yes, I saw him in the hallway," Pyrrha replied, struggling to focus on the conversation. "He had forgotten his gear though so he had to go back and get it."

"Who do you think's gonna fight today?" Nora asked happily. "Oooooh, I so wanna face Yang. Or maybe even that Yatsuhashi guy from CFVY. Yeah, he really seems like he could take a hit or two."

"Yatsuhashi and CFVY are second year, Nora," Ren reminded her. "They aren't in this class."

"Fine, I'll just fight that Cardin guy."

"You just want to bludgeon people."

Nora simply laughed. "Well of course! That's the point of these things, isn't it?"

"Not necessarily," Pyrrha chimed in. "It also means you get pitted against a great many different types of fighting styles, and so you get to learn and adapt to all the different strengths and weaknesses of these styles. For example, the same things that would work against you, Ren, might be ineffective against me."

Nora's smile dissipated. "Or I could just hit them," she said in a much less enthusiastic tone.

 _Did I say something wrong?_ Pyrrha thought to herself, cringing in her mind. _I was just pointing out the advantages these classes hold. Isn't that the point of being here at Beacon? To better evolve our fighting styles?_ Her thought process was interrupted once again as an image of Glynda Goodwitch appeared in front of all the students present in the stadium, causing the vast majority of the chatter to die down instantly.

"First years of Beacon Academy, welcome to the duel arena," Glynda said through a microphone. "Today will be the first sparring matches of the curriculum. Here, you will hone your skills against a large variety of different fighting styles. This will prove valuable knowledge throughout your time at Beacon and in the world beyond as a hunter or huntress."

"Isn't that exactly what you said, Pyrrha?" Nora commented in shock.

"It is, yes," Pyrrha replied without looking away from the screen. "The point of this Academy is to train us to fight after all."

"Today there will be three matches, chosen completely at random," Glynda announced. "When your name is called, please proceed to the stairs down to the arena at once. For the first match up, it will be Sky Lark against Lie Ren. Could the two students please enter the arena."

"Oh, good luck Ren!" Nora said excitedly.

"Fight well," Pyrrha added.

"Thanks, Nora," Ren said as he left his seat.

 _This should be interesting,_ Pyrrha thought to herself as Ren and Sky entered the arena. _Ren has StormFlower, which is essentially two machine pistols was blades attached to them. Sky has is halberd and has his body armour, but this will serve to slow him down. Against Sky's halberd, this will give him the advantage both at range and in close, not to mention his maneuverability. In reality, this shouldn't be a difficult fight at all for him, but he can't afford to take a single hit from that halberd. Sky wouldn't wield such a heavy weapon if he didn't have the strength to back it up._

"Three, two, one…" Glynda's voice came over the microphone. "Begin!"

Ren immediately jumped backwards, launching a barrage with the machine pistols in StormFlower as he did so. Sky charged at Ren at the same time, attempting to close the distance between them somewhat, blocking Ren's bullets as he did so. Seeing that the attack had done little to affect his charge, Ren planted his feet on the ground, his feet facing left with his right foot towards Sky.

"Left dodge," Pyrrha whispered.

Sky raised his halberd high above his head and brought it down hard over Ren, but he was too slow. Just as Pyrrha had predicted, Ren jumped out of the way of the attack to his left before rolling into a standing position and letting another volley fly from the machine pistols. The bullets pinged off of Sky's armour, although it did cause him to stagger somewhat. _Sky was so intent on landing that attack that he failed to take into account Ren's body position and feet direction,_ Pyrrha thought as she watched on. _Had he been aware of Ren's position, he could've changed the direction of the attack before raising his halberd to thrown Ren off balance with his, and his halberd's, momentum._

Lifting his halberd from the ground, Sky turned to face the direction that Ren had shot from, but his opponent was already gone. He searched frantically around the arena for Ren, only to have the blade of StormFlower's right half careen into his back, causing him to fall forward as a consequence of the attack.

"Too slow," Pyrrha whispered. "Ren's much too fast for this guy."

Angrily, Sky swung his halberd wildly, and he somehow managed to catch the left half of StormFlower in between the two halves of the halberd's blade, sending it flying across the arena, far out of Ren's reach. Pyrrha noted how unperturbed Ren seemed about this, opting to stop and face Sky instead of running to get the other half of his weapon.

"Did I miss much?" a voice came from behind her.

Pyrrha smiled. "No, this fight's just getting interesting," she said. "Have a seat, Jaune. You might learn a thing or two."

"Right, of course," the blonde boy said, taking the seat between Nora and Pyrrha.

"Beat his ass, Ren!" Nora cried as he did so, causing Jaune to reflexively lean away from her and cover his left ear. "Oops, sorry!"

Down in the arena, Sky gave a little laugh, leaning the halberd on one shoulder. "What's the matter, can't handle this fight without both your weapons?"

Ren said nothing to this, but instead gave a wry smile as he chose to throw the remaining half of StormFlower over to its counterpart, leaving him completely unarmed. Pyrrha could see Sky's eyes flash with anger at this, but she could see the look on Ren's face. _He's goading Sky into attacking him head on,_ she noted. _Without any weapons, Sky has assumed that Ren is defenceless and will go for a single crushing blow. This won't take long._

Once again, just as Pyrrha had predicted, Sky charged forward once again, apparently not remembering what happened the last time he did so. However, unlike last time, Ren's stance shifted so that both feet were pointing directly at Sky, almost as if he was willing to charge at the oncoming attack. _He must be planning to get under the attack when it comes in,_ Pyrrha realised. _He knows that Sky will go for a heavy overheard attack just like last time, and so he will prepare a countermeasure._

Pyrrha was right. As Sky lifted the halberd above his head once more, Ren moved in, focussing his Aura into the palms of his hands, with Sky realising what was happening far too late. Ren thrust his right palm hard into Sky's right shoulder, stopping any and all momentum in his attack and causing him to drop his halberd as Ren darted behind him. Furious, Sky thrashed out with his left arm, but Ren was ready for this and ducked under the attack, thrusting a palm into his left shoulder this time, rendering him useless. Sky could only watch as Ren hit him one more time in the chest with his Aura-infused palms, causing him to topple over next to his halberd, completely defenceless.

"The winner of this fight is Lie Ren!" Glynda Goodwitch announced. "However, I would recommend never throwing your weapons away in a real fight, Ren."

"Ren crushed that guy," Jaune said in awe. "I'm glad I didn't have to face him."

"Ren uses his head to beat his opponents," Pyrrha told him. "It doesn't matter how strong you are if you don't know how to use it effectively. Brute force can only do so much."

"Now we move on to the next fight of the day," Glynda Goodwitch announced as Sky and Ren left the arena, one much easier than the other. "Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc, could you please make your way down to the arena thank you."

"Oh god please no," Jaune whispered in dread.

"Your shield's going to be very important in this fight Jaune, don't forget to use it," Pyrrha said helpfully.

"Right. Uh, wish me luck?" Jaune said half-heartedly.

"Go get another win for team JNPR!" Nora said enthusiastically.

 _Poor guy, this isn't going to end well for him,_ Pyrrha thought as she saw Jaune's slumped figure head off. She had seen Yang's fighting style a couple days ago during initiation, and so she knew just how outmatched Jaune was. _Yang uses Ember Celica, two gauntlets that can fire all types of shots when she throws punches. It can help to make her attacks more forceful, she can fire on enemies from a relative distance, and get even use them to move herself out of enemy fire or into positions for quick attacks._ Pyrrha also knew that Yang had seen Jaune practising by himself just yesterday, as she had been with her as a part of Nora's idea to get to know the other groups. _Yang knows how weak Jaune is. It'll be like a wolf toying with its prey._

As the two entered the arena, Ren returned to his seat beside an excited Nora, StormFlower returned to its holster. In the arena below, Yang had walked in full of confidence, a smirk across her face. Jaune, meanwhile, was in the process of getting his shield out, and his sword was pointed at the ground leaving him completely open to any attack Yang could throw at him.

Glynda's voice rang through the amphitheatre. "Three, two, one… begin!"

Yang, unsurprisingly, made the first move, shooting a shot from Ember Celica at Jaune. Pyrrha watched as Jaune put his shield in the way of the shot, which exploded and caused him to take a step back. Even from here, she could see that Jaune was absolutely terrified. _Like a wolf toying with its prey,_ Pyrrha repeated to herself.

Casually, Yang began to move toward Jaune, firing shot after shot from her gauntlets as Jaune took a step back with each attack. Pyrrha could see that Yang was completely unworried about getting attacked by Jaune. In fact, as Pyrrha soon realised, she was using Jaune's shield to make a tune with her bullets. THUMP THUMP, THUMP. Left, left, right. THUMP THUMP, THUMP. A few jeers went up from the student around her as they too realised that Yang was playing a tune with Jaune's shield as the instrument.

"Yang's really doing a number on him," Nora said dejectedly. "Does she have to use him like that? It's embarrassing!"

"Yang's just having fun," Ren countered. "It's at Jaune's expense, yes, but I doubt she realises that."

Yang finally got to within striking distance, but it was clear to Pyrrha that the cheers from the other students had gotten to her. Instead of finishing the fight as she easily could, she began beating against Jaune's shield with her bare fists in the same pattern she had been doing before. Left, left, right. Left, left, right. Although Jaune simply had to strike out with his sword, it was clear that he was much too terrified of getting hit by one of Yang's blows to even think about attacking himself. _He didn't even know about Aura until the initiation,_ Pyrrha thought. _It probably hasn't even occurred to him that he will be protected by it should she hit him with an attack instead of his shield._

As if on cue, Yang stopped her assault on Jaune's shield, as it was clear that Jaune was struggling to keep it up against her attacks. Instead, she grabbed the top of the shield and effortlessly pulled it downward, leaving Jaune's face and upper body completely exposed to her right fist which was ready to strike.

"Peek-a-boo!" Yang said, and threw the punch.

The fist stopped just before Jaune's face, but it was enough to throw him off balance and fall to the floor. His sword and shield had slipped from his grasp in the process, Yang still gripping the shield in one hand as the sword clanged against the cold, hard ground. Defenceless against Yang's attacks and clearly out of breath from taking all of Yang's blows, Jaune simply bowed his head and admitted defeat.

"The winner via surrender is Yang Xiao Long," Glynda Goodwitch announced in a disappointed and angry tone. "Jaune Arc, please report to Headmaster Ozpin immediately, please."

Pyrrha could only watch as a defeated and humiliated Jaune excited in the arena. _If he's to stand any chance of surviving at this place he needs to get better fast,_ she thought. _I could probably teach him a thing or two since he fights with a sword and shield like me. Get him on his feet at least. It's the least I can do for him treating me like a person and not a celebrity._

"And now we have the final fight for today's sparring session," Glynda Goodwitch said through microphone. "Well how about that. Could the last two members of team JNPR, Nora and Pyrrha, please make your way to the arena please."

"OMG I have to face you?!" Nora exclaimed. "I can't tell whether I should be ecstatic or terrified. Oh well. See you down there Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha shook her head cheerfully as Nora ran out the doorway and down to the arena. _Maybe Jaune isn't the only person who sees me as no different to them,_ she thought as she followed Nora toward the arena. _Nora and Ren have treated me pretty well as well. Who knows? Maybe there are others who would see me for who I truly am here at Beacon._

As she made her way into the arena, Pyrrha began to go through Nora's fighting style in her head. She liked to go for heavy attacks, but she also knew how to wield her hammer at high speeds, something that often caught her opponents off guard. If she was to win this fight, she would have to find a way to either neutralise that speed or find a way past the hammer and get in extremely close to land punches similar to how Ren had done against Sky. It was a similar fighting style she faced, after all.

"Nora and Pyrrha, ready your weapons," Glynda said. "Three, two, one… fight!"

Just as Pyrrha had predicted, Nora decided to close the gap immediately, leaving her unable to switch Milò into its rifle form. Instead, she switched it into its javelin form, and as Nora brought her hammer down over her head, Pyrrha dodged to the right and jabbed at Nora's side, catching her clothes fabric with its point and tearing it. Turning to face Pyrrha, Nora began to swing her hammer around her with speed and accuracy, to which Pyrrha replied with blocks and jabs in quick succession. Upon realising that her spinning assault was getting her nowhere, Nora grabbed the hammer in both hands, and Pyrrha could see what she was about to do immediately. _Frontal strike._

Dodging to her left side, Nora thrust her hammer straight forward like a battering ram, which Pyrrha promptly deflected with her shield as she did so. Using the momentum to her advantage, Pyrrha spun right and flung the pommel of Milò into Nora's side, causing her to stagger backwards and let out a small grunt in pain. _There is one major weakness with Aura,_ Pyrrha thought to herself as she had Nora had a small standoff. _Slashes from swords and impacts from bullets still hurt, but the majority of the physical damage is nullified. However, the blunt force trauma is something that even Aura has a hard time stopping. It won't stop her completely, but if I can land a precise enough blow, it'll be enough to incapacitate her long enough to end the fight._

Obviously angered by Pyrrha's strike, Nora held her hammer by her side and shifted her weight onto her back foot. _Overhead strike,_ Pyrrha thought instinctively, and got ready to dodge and deflect the blow as before. However, as Nora brought the hammer over, Pyrrha realised too late that Nora's finger was over the trigger on her hammer's handle, and as such, her jump out of the way came far too late.

As the hammer hit the ground in front of Pyrrha, Nora pulled the trigger and an explosion erupted from the hammer itself. Although Pyrrha had jumped to avoid the attack, it still threw her off slightly, and Nora took full advantage of this. With surprising speed, she spun the hammer around herself, and Pyrrha was only just able to get her shield Akoù o in the way as the hammer connected, sending Pyrrha flying across the arena. However, as she connected with the ground, she entered into a roll, minimising the damage and ended it with her facing Nora once more, who seemed displeased at the fact that her attack had done so little.

Switching Milò into its rifle form, Pyrrha took shots at Nora, who proceeded to deflect them with the handle of her hammer as she charged forward. Pyrrha watched Nora's hands as she charged, and she saw that instead of going for the overhead attack that most people would have expected, her grip suggested that she was going to try and use it as a battering ram once more. _Time to finish this,_ Pyrrha thought to herself.

Just as she had thought, Nora switched the position of her hands at the last second, bringing the hammer head around to the front to use as a battering ram. Pyrrha deflected the blow to her left, except this time, instead of spinning around, she pushed away were her shield and, after reversing her grip on her sword, thrust forward with the pommel of the blade at the same time. With her shield pushing Nora into the line of her sword's pommel, Nora could do nothing as it hit her in the temple, causing her to stagger and fall over, the blunt force trauma having bypassed the majority of the protection given by Aura. Although still conscious, Nora was completely out of it, and thus out of the fight.

"The winner via knockout is Pyrrha Nikos," Glynda Goodwitch announced. "I hope a lot of you were taking notes during that fight, like how both Nora and Pyrrha used their head for the fight instead of just trying to barge their way to victory. That will be all for today children. You are dismissed."

"Hey, are you alright? I hit you quite hard," Pyrrha asked, extending a hand to Nora.

The firebrand took it and gingerly got to her feet. "What? I'm fine, I'm fine," Nora protested, but Pyrrha could see that her head was still swimming. "Just unexpected is all. You really are as good as they say, you know."

"Thank you," Pyrrha replied, bowing slightly.

"Pyrrha that was so cool!"

The voice came, surprisingly, from Jaune, who was entering the arena alongside Ren. As Pyrrha sheathed her weapons, she picked up Nora's hammer and handed it to her, with the pink-haired girl taking it in one hand, the other on her head. Ren, despite the seeming closeness of the two, appeared to be mostly untroubled by the blow Nora had taken.

"You're so skilled with the sword and shield!" Jaune said in awe. "I've never seen anything like it that was amazing!"

"Thank you," Pyrrha said, noting the genuine nature of the compliment. "Weren't you supposed to go see Ozpin though?"

Jaune nodded sadly. "I did, it didn't take long," he said. "He basically told me that if I wanted to remain at Beacon, I'd have to improve quickly."

"I see," Pyrrha said. "You know, I could help you with that. We do both use a sword and shield after all."

Jaune's eyes lit up. "Could you? That'd be so nice of you," he said gratefully, but then looked confused. "I ask to ask though. Why?"

"Well…" Pyrrha said, thinking it over. "All four of us are a team now, so teammates should support each other, right? This is me supporting you."

"Alright," Jaune said, still obviously coming to terms with the offer. "Alright, I can do that. I want to learn. I want to get better."

"How about I come find you at six-ish?" Pyrrha offered. "We can start right away."

"Thank you so much for this, Pyrrha," Jaune said. "I can't wait to start learning."


	2. Teacher and Student

**Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – Teacher and Student**

"Okay, Jaune. Show me your stance."

After a good search around Beacon's grounds, Pyrrha had found a quiet and recluse spot on a rooftop not far from the dorm rooms. Up here, they could be left alone to practise, and Pyrrha wouldn't have to deal with all the attention she got for being who she was. It was a welcome change of pace for her, and as she took a deep breath of the cooling air, she could just make out the sun beginning to dip below the horizon to the west. _Alright Jaune, show me what you've got._

Unfortunately for Pyrrha, it quickly became clear to clear that Jaune knew even less about fighting that she had originally thought. His stance was wholly straight on, leaving him completely open to attacks. _By having your left foot forward slightly, it automatically puts your shield in a position to block incoming attacks,_ Pyrrha thought to herself. Coincidentally, Jaune's shield was protecting maybe the left ribs under his arm, but that was about it. She could also see that he held was sword rather limply, something that would result in it getting knocked out of his hands with a single blow.

"Okay, Jaune, watch me," Pyrrha said, assuming her stance. "See how I have my left foot ahead of my right? It shortens the time it take to move my shield into a defensive position and means it protects more of me even when I'm not using it. See how my profile is slimmer? it means there's less for the enemy to hit. Forget about your sword for now, just try to assume that stance."

"Okay, let's see…" Jaune said as he placed his sword on the ground and tried to copy Pyrrha.

Pyrrha watched as he assumed the stance. "Left foot forward a bit more, you want them to be shoulder width apart," she said as she walked around him, analysing his position. "Don't be flat footed. You need to be quick, so you want to be almost bouncing on your toes as you stand. bend your knees, keep your centre of gravity lower. Shield up, it's not there for decoration."

"How's this?" Jaune asked.

"It's… better," Pyrrha said encouragingly, although she could still see a number of problems with how he stood. "Your stance is still twisted. Remember, you don't want to be standing straight on when facing someone. Don't be afraid to let your shield take hits. Have it out in front with that side of your body."

"Sorry, I'm just, well… I don't like getting hit, you know?" Jaune said with a sigh. "Geez, why did I even come here…"

"It's alright, Jaune, we will have plenty of work to do," Pyrrha said, smiling. "I'm sure you'll be doing it instinctively in no time."

"I… you're right, I've just gotta get my head down and focus," Jaune agreed. "Just like Ozpin said. Head down and train. Only way to get better."

"Exactly," Pyrrha nodded. "Now pick up your sword."

"What next?" Jaune asked, but Pyrrha could see that the addition of the sword had altered his stance once more.

"Just look at me for now," she said, assuming her position. "See how my shield is blocking most of my body? Also, note how my sword is not pointed directly at the ground, but rather diagonally toward it. This allows for quick and easy strikes without disrupting my ability to protect myself.

Opting to demonstrate what she meant by that, Pyrrha did three quick movements from her stance. First, she did a quick jab forward with her blade and then, without stopping, she pulled the sword back over her left shoulder before bringing it down hard in a slashing motion, designing to cut from the enemy's right shoulder down to their left hip. Once she had completed the movement, she was back in her original stance, with her shield protecting her front once more.

"See how even after I've thrown attacks, I am still completely balanced and in a defensive position," Pyrrha told him. "With a sword and shield, it isn't about all-out attack. You have to learn to block and deflect attacks with your shield before taking advantage of your opponent's positioning to give fast, precise strikes."

"You mean like you did with Nora," Jaune recalled. "You deflected her attacks with your shield before exposing a weak spot with your sword. Gah, that was so cool."

"Concentrate, Jaune," Pyrrha ordered, although she was smiling in her mind. "Now you try. First, assume the stance I had just shown you."

"Like this?" Jaune asked, and although he was close, Pyrrha could see that he was a little off in some areas.

"The grip on your blade isn't tight enough," she said as she examined the stance. "If you have a loose grip, all it will take is one hit to knock it out of your hands. Then it's useless."

"Right, tighter grip, got it," Jaune said, grasping his sword tighter as he looked forward over his shield.

"Remember what I said about weight distribution," Pyrrha reminded him. "Be on the balls of your feet. You can't afford to be flat footed should a Beowulf or Boarbatusk attack you."

"Balls of your feet, got it," Jaune said with a nod.

"Alright, now practise the movement I just showed you," Pyrrha directed. "Stab forward, then bring it over your left shoulder and slash downward at an angle. Imagine your cutting through a person right shoulder to left hip."

"Right," Jaune said, before attempting it in both a slow and clumsy manner.

"Again," Pyrrha ordered.

As she watched Jaune practise, Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder why this boy had decided to join Beacon. _It's clear that he would never have passed the initial screening process without something going on behind the scenes that I don't know about,_ she thought to herself. _And there's no way he would've survived the Emerald Forest without our help. After all, he didn't even know what Aura was before he got launched into the place. There must be more to him than meets the eye._

"Alright, that's enough for now," Pyrrha said eventually, noting that Jaune seemed very tired, sweat dripping from his brow and he was taking deep breaths.

"Oh thank god," Jaune said, exhausted, as the shield on his arm dropped and clanged on the ground. "That thing was getting so heavy."

"Practise, practise, practise," Pyrrha told him. "Here, I have this book for you as well. Study it."

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

"Swordplay for beginners," Pyrrha answered as she gave him the book. "Focus on the first three chapters for now. They go over the fundamentals of defence, attack and reading your opponents. The basics."

"You didn't have to do this," Jaune said, surprised.

"I want you to get better, Jaune," Pyrrha told him. "You're the leader of this team. I want to see you succeed."

"Yeah, your right," Jaune admitted. "I mean, the best thing I can do right now is just get out of the way during a fight."

"Getting better will take time, Jaune," Pyrrha said. "Things like this don't just change overnight. The more you practise and study, the better you'll get. I know you can do this, Jaune."

"Thanks, Pyrrha," Jaune said softly. "Thanks for believing in me."

 _God I hope this doesn't screw things up._ "We're friends, right? That's what friends do," she replied nervously.

"That's true," Jaune nodded. "I won't let you down."

"Good to hear," Pyrrha said, breathing a sigh of relief in her mind. "Now, have you spoken to Nora since the last class?"

"Not yet, why?"

"Her and Ren are going into Vale the day after next to check out some Dust stores," Pyrrha explained. "I think Wiess and Ruby might even be tagging along. She wants us to go as well."

"Why?"

"No idea, probably her idea of a fun afternoon," Pyrrha admitted. "It'll be a good way to get to know some people, don't you think?"

"I suppose so," Jaune said. "Wait, you said Wiess was going, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Oh, good," Jaune said. "Anyway, thanks for the help Pyrrha."

"I'll come find you tomorrow for another session," she said, ignoring the statement about Wiess. "Probably around the same time. Is that okay?"

"Of course."

"Alright, see you then Jaune."

After waving goodbye to the blonde-haired boy, Pyrrha elected to stay on the rooftop for a little while longer, looking out over Beacon grounds as the last of the sun's rays disappeared below the horizon. Below her, the lights across the campus were flickering on, and she could see students and teachers alike wandering around in the cool night air. She sighed. _At least it's better than Mistral,_ she thought to herself. _After being put on a pedestal for so long… it's so nice to be around people like Nora and Jaune who don't seem to care that much about it, if at all._

Taking in the moment one last time, she turned away from the view and headed back to her dorm.

* * *

After getting through the last day of classes for the week, Pyrrha joined Nora, Ren, Jaune, Wiess and Ruby in an air bus the following morning. They all had brought their weaponry with them by Glynda Goodwitch's orders, which had stated that no hunter or huntress in training was to leave Beacon grounds without their weapons. On the airbus were other students and a couple of teachers headed for Vale, but they all seemed to be absorbed in their own business. Taking a seat between Ren and Jaune, Pyrrha noted the excited look on Ruby's face.

"What is it, Ruby?" she asked politely.

"There's a new Dust shop that's opened near the harbour and I can't wait to see it!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. "I wonder if they have any of the Gravity Dust that'd be _suuuuper_ useful. I need to stock up on some Fire Dust ammunition too. Oh, and some Ice Dust… maaaybe some Lightning Dust."

"You're going to buy them out at this rate," Wiess commented. "Make sure to give other customers a chance as well."

"They'll be fine, Wiess," Ruby said dismissively. "Besides, there are other ones in town. I was just at one not too long ago in fact."

"That wasn't the one that was attacked, was it?" Ren asked.

Ruby gave an awkward laugh. "Maybe…"

"Lemme guess, you kicked their asses, right?" Nora chimed in.

"This one guy got away though," Ruby mentioned. "You know, Roman Torchwick."

"Oh him," Wiess said in recognition. "I can't believe he's been able to evade the police force here for so long. He's just a dust thief!"

The conversation continued about Roman, but Pyrrha found her attention instead turned to Jaune, who was keeping surprisingly quiet. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but from the look on his face it appeared that he just wanted to be left alone for the time being. _I'll just leave him alone for now,_ Pyrrha thought. _He joined us on this trip into Vale. I'm sure he will open up to the rest of us soon enough._

It wasn't long before the airbus touched down on the outskirts of the city of Vale near the harbour. As Pyrrha followed the rest of the gang out the doors of the vehicle, the first thing she noticed was the cool breeze coming off the ocean just to their left. Against the surprising heat of the morning sun, it provided ample refreshment. Nora and Ruby, however, seemed to preoccupied with being excited to notice it.

"Where should we go first?" Nora wondered excitedly. "The Dust Shop opening isn't until midday, so we could go clothes shopping or perhaps we could go get ice-cream or maybe even go see a movie or go do some sightseeing or –"

"Nora, breathe," Ren cut in.

"What? Oh, right," Nora said, taking a deep breath. "So what are we gonna do?"

"I was hoping to go with Jaune to a bookstore I know," Pyrrha said. "I'm not sure how exciting that'd be for the rest of you, though."

"No, no, books are… fun?" Nora tried. "Oh, who am I kidding. Anyone gonna go with them?"

"I will," Ruby said, much to many people's surprise. "What? They might have some books on older weaponry or fighting styles."

"What happened to your enthusiasm for the Dust store?" Wiess asked.

"Well, like Nora said, it isn't opening for another couple of hours so we've got some time to kill," Ruby explained. "Who knows? They might have some books on weapons and stuff that I've never heard of before."

"Alright, well I'm going to go and check out the local competition," Wiess announced. "It'll be interesting to see what kind of dust operations there are in the city. I'm sure my father would be very interested to know."

"Well the mention of ice-cream has made me hungry, so who's with me?" Nora asked.

"I suppose I'll go," Ren said.

"Awesome!" Nora exclaimed. "We'll meet outside the new dust store just before it opens, alright? Alright. Let's go people!"

Waving goodbye to Nora, Ren and Wiess, Pyrrha led the way as Jaune trailed slightly behind her, Ruby bouncing ahead somewhat it what seemed to be a skip of some sort. _I wish Jaune would just say what's on his mind,_ Pyrrha thought as they walked. _It would make this whole situation so much easier._

"Had another run in with Cardin, did we Jaune?" Ruby asked suddenly.

Jaune sighed. "Yeah," he answered. "We're starting on a new topic in history next week, and Cardin's decided that I'm going to do all of his work."

"He's not leaving you alone?" Pyrrha asked.

"No," Jaune said. "I tried to ignore him like you said but he wouldn't let me go anywhere until I acknowledged him."

"Talk to one of the professors about him maybe," Ruby offered. "I'm sure Oobleck or Port will be willing to help out."

"I can't just go running for help like a coward," Jaune protested. "Besides, I'm sure he's not that bad of a guy. Just not that good at studying is all."

"You'll figure something out," Pyrrha offered reassuringly.

"So… why are you two going to a bookstore anyway?" Ruby asked, changing the subject as she skipped backwards ahead of Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Well, I offered to give Jaune some lesson about sword fighting," Pyrrha told her. "Although I also use a rifle and javelin, the sword and shield make up a large part of my fighting style. After seeing the fight against Yang, I thought he could use a few pointers."

"A few? I need all the help I can get," Jaune said pitifully. "I don't know the first thing about fighting."

"How come you're at Beacon then?" Ruby asked inquisitively.

"Well, my father was a hunter, and his father, and his father before him," Jaune explained. "It's just a family thing, I guess."

 _He comes from such a strong lineage, and yet doesn't know the first thing about fighting._ "The bookstore we are going to have a number of different books on fighting styles and sword and shield techniques," Pyrrha explained. "You'd probably be pretty interested in them too, Ruby."

"It does sound that way, doesn't it?" Ruby noted. "Every weapon is like an extension of the person wielding it, and there's so many different kinds of weaponry out there… it's all just so cool, I wanna see them all."

"You might be in luck then," Pyrrha said. "I'm sure this place has something new for you."

If it were possible, Ruby seemed to have an even bigger spring in her step upon hearing this news. As they continued to wander through the city, Pyrrha noticed the eyes darting in her direction every now and again as people recognised her. She sighed to herself. _I came here to escape most of this,_ she thought to herself. _Is there really nowhere in Remnant where people don't know of me?_ Jaune coughed slightly next to her, clearing his throat as he took in the city a bit. Pyrrha smiled slightly. _At least these two treat me as a person._

It wasn't long before they came across the bookstore that Pyrrha knew of. Rather inconspicuous tucked into a smaller alley of the market district, it looked quite small on the outside. However, upon entering, the building seemed to open up as both the upstairs area and stairs leading to the basement came into view, expanding the size of the store many times over. Ruby seemed ecstatic at the opportunity to rifle through the books here, whereas Jaune seemed rather indifferent to the whole situation, no doubt a result of Cardin's actions throughout the week.

"Pyrrha, is that you?" a voice came from behind a pile of books.

"Frances, it's good to see you," Pyrrha called as the bookkeeper rounded the corner. "It's been, what, a month?"

"Give or take," said the burly man as he shook Pyrrha's hand. "Always good to see Mistral's shining star. What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for some books on the sword and shield," Pyrrha said, ignoring Frances' comment. "My friend here is looking to further his craft and so I brought him here."

"Top floor, third row on the right as you reach the top of the stairs," Frances replied. "If there's anything else I can get you just let me know."

"Oh! Oh! What other books do you have on weapons throughout history?" Ruby asked eagerly.

"Hmm, well if you're talking pre-Great War weaponry, you could try the far shelf over there," Frances offered, pointing to the back of the store. "Or for more recent historical recordings, try three rows back this way."

"Got it. Thanks!" Ruby said before disappearing in a whirl.

Pyrrha led Jaune to the upstairs area of the bookstore, where she quickly found the section that Frances had been talking about. As she and Jaune looked through the plethora of books available to them, she could only wonder what would be best suited for Jaune and his fighting style. _This one covers applications of the sword and shield against Death Stalkers, but I don't think Jaune will taking any of those on any time soon…_

"How about this one?" Jaune said, interrupting her thoughts. "It's called 'Art of the Blade'. Apparently, it covers how to use a sword to incapacitate all different kinds of enemies without killing them."

"That could prove useful," Pyrrha nodded, before another book caught her eye. "Here we go. 'Intermediate Tactics for Swordsmen.' There's some good stuff in here that you could definitely work towards."

An explosion outside rocked the building. Pyrrha and Jaune's eyes met instantly, and within seconds they had scrambled down the stairs and had made their way outside. Ruby was already there, and as they exited the store they trailed her line of sight to the smoke rising above the buildings not too far from where they currently were. Suddenly, Pyrrha's scroll started pinging at her, and she was surprised to see that Wiess was calling her.

"Wiess, what's happening?" Pyrrha asked quickly.

"I was heading to this dust shop and it just exploded in front of me!" Wiess shouted. "Where are you guys? I think there's still some people in there."

"Ruby, Jaune and I will be there in a second. Just hold tight," Pyrrha said before hanging up.

Having heard Pyrrha's words, Ruby was already on the move and had rounded one of the buildings between the bookstore and the smoke. Without a word, Jaune and Pyrrha ran to catch up to her, and after navigating the alleyways between them and the smoke they finally arrived, only to find Wiess and Ruby standing outside the store, which had a hole in its side, with weapons drawn and men in black suits unconscious on the ground.

"There's more inside," Ruby warned. "Be careful, too, the building itself is rather unstable."

As Pyrrha and Jaune prepared themselves for whatever was in the store, she noticed a flash of white leap between the dust shop building and the one adjacent to it. At first she was confused as to what it was, but the answer quickly came to her. _I know that coat._

"I need to get on the roof on that store," she called out to the others. "Wiess, can you get me up there?"

"Why do you need to go there?" Wiess argued. "The bad guys are inside the building!"

"I saw Roman Torchwick jump across," Pyrrha told her.

Wiess gritted her teeth. "Fine, we will handle this. Just don't let him go!"

Utilising Wiess' glyphs in the same way that Ruby had during the fight with the Nevermore in the Emerald Forest, Pyrrha soon found herself on the roof of the neighbouring store, smoke billowing to her left. Fortunately, she could still see the outline of Roman Torchwick making his way up an emergency ladder to the top of the building across from hers. Sheathing Milò, Pyrrha broke into a sprint and leapt across the gap between the buildings, grabbing onto the ladder's scaffolding as Roman neared the top.

 _I can't let him get away._ With ridiculous speed, Pyrrha climbed the outside of the scaffolding with relative ease, comfortable in the knowledge that she could use her semblance to catch herself should she fall. However, she made it to the top with little issue, just in time to see Roman getting ready to leap to the next building, which was only a story lower than the one they were currently on.

"Stop!" Pyrrha demanded, and Roman ground to a halt.

"What is it with children and interruptions?" she heard the man call out. "Can't a man go about his business in peace?"

"Why'd you blow up that store?" Pyrrha asked, Milò and Akoùo at the ready.

"I did nothing," Roman protested. "Those buffoons had no idea how to handle the dust powder is all. Stuff's volatile, you know."

"I'm not letting you get away."

"Oh, the great Pyrrha Nikos thinks she can stop me, does she?" Roman quipped. "Shouldn't you be off winning another tournament?"

"What did you want with that dust?" she demanded, walking towards Roman slowly, shield ready.

"That, my dear girl, is for me to know and for you to never find out," Roman said with a slight nod of the head. "Now, I hate to be a tease, but I really must be going. Cheerio!"

Before Pyrrha could do anything, Roman raised his cane and shot the ground in front of Pyrrha, causing smoke to pillow up around her. _Smoke grenade,_ she realised. _Was he really prepared for someone to come after him?_ She inched forward, wary that the smoke might have extended to the end of the building. However, by the time she was out of the smog, Roman was nowhere to be seen, and a quick scan of the rooftops and alleyways below proved futile.

Her scroll rang. Wiess. "We've finished up here, the police have just started to cuff these guys," she told her. "Since you answered I'm assuming you caught Roman?"

"No, Wiess, he got away," said Pyrrha, her eyes still scanning for any sight of him. "But I suspect this won't be the last we've seen of Roman Torchwick."


	3. Get Junior

**Beta reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – Get Junior**

The rest of the day became a living hell for Pyrrha and the others involved in the explosion incident. After being taken in for questioning by the Vale police force, they reunited with Nora and Ren, who had been eating pancakes on the other side of Vale when the explosion happened, only to be forcefully taken back to Beacon by Glynda Goodwitch. There, Pyrrha and Weiss were tasked with informing Headmaster Ozpin of the events that had transpired, and once it was all said it done, Pyrrha was then asked to stay back by Ozpin after the others had been dismissed. _What's he got planned for me?_

"Now, Miss Nikos, in the report you just gave you mentioned that you chased Roman Torchwick on a rooftop only for him to escape," Ozpin said. "Was there any interaction between you and Roman? Did he say anything?"

"Nothing of importance, no," Pyrrha said sadly. "He only mentioned that the men he was with were inept in their handling of the powdered dust, but other than that he said nothing."

"I see," Ozpin said, leaning back in his chair. "Nothing about what he planned to do with this dust?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Thank you, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, his face revealing nothing. "I would suggest heading back to your dorm now. I suspect the rest of your teammates will be waiting for you on the bottom floor. Enjoy your day."

Bowing slightly, Pyrrha headed back to the elevator. Ozpin's office resided at the top of the Cross Continental Transmit Tower, and so the ride back to the bottom floor gave her a lot of time to think. _I wonder why Ozpin was so interested in what Roman had said,_ she thought. _Perhaps he knows something I don't? No, don't be ridiculous, Pyrrha. But then again, the Vale police didn't even ask for the specifics of the conversation I had with Roman… maybe there's more to this than I thought._

Her train of thought was broken as the doors to the elevators opened and she saw Jaune, Nora and Ren all waiting for her in the lobby. Giving a warm smile to them as she approached, she noted that they all seemed happy to see her. _Is this what it's like to have friends?_ Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder. _This… this is something I could get used to._

"So, why'd old man Ozpin have you stay back huh?" Nora asked.

"He just wanted to know a bit more about my interaction with Roman," Pyrrha answered truthfully.

"Oh," Nora said, disappointed. "I was expecting something more than that."

"Like what?" Ren asked.

Nora cleared her throat. "Pyrrha, I want you to take charge of an investigation into Roman Torchwick," she said in a terrible impression of Ozpin, before switching back to her normal voice. "That'd be so cool. You could be like this private eye character, and we're all like these confidants and allies you use to piece the clues together."

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh slightly. "That would be interesting," she said.

"I could really go for lunch," Jaune complained, his stomach growling. "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

Pyrrha knew how he felt. Not only had the explosion resulted in them missing the opening of the new dust store, much to Ruby's dismay, but it had mean that it was now the middle of the afternoon and they had not had a chance to eat anything. It was not a feeling Pyrrha was sure she would ever get used to.

"I'm hungry too," Nora said in agreement.

"But we had lunch," Ren reminded her.

"Pfft, who cares," Nora said dismissively. "To the cafeteria!"

All in agreement, the four headed for the cafeteria. Fortunately, since it was the middle of the afternoon, there weren't many people in the building, although Pyrrha did spot Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang sitting at the far end of the hall. There was no doubt in her mind that Ruby and Weiss were catching the others up on what had happened in Vale, as it would not have surprised her if the event had made it onto the news.

"Do you think anything will come of what happened today?" Jaune asked Pyrrha.

"Honestly, I doubt it," she admitted. "Incidents involving Torchwick are happening all the time these days. We just happened to be nearby for this latest one."

"I see," Jaune said, before turning his attention to the buffet table. "Hmm, do I want chicken or ham? I hope this is all still fresh…"

Taking a piece of pork, some vegetables and a glass of orange juice from the buffet table, Pyrrha took a seat beside Jaune. Across from her was Nora, her plate stacked high with basically a bit of everything from the choices available. Ren sat next to her with a much more modest selection of foods, and on the table behind them was Ruby and the others, their voices not quite loud enough to reach Pyrrha's ears. It seemed they were discussing something quite delicate.

"Oh my god, this lamb is amazing!" Nora somehow managed to say with a full mouth. "Ren, you have to try some!"

"Are you sure you're going to be able to eat all of that?" Ren asked her.

"Uh, duh, of course," Nora replied as if Ren was some kind of idiot

"So what does everyone have planned for the rest of the day now?" Pyrrha asked between mouthfuls.

"Well, I heard that there's going to be a showing of Knightly Terror 3 in one of the auditoriums tonight," Jaune answered. "For some fundraiser or something. I might go to that."

"What about you two?" Pyrrha asked Nora and Ren.

"I have some study to catch up on," Ren replied.

"I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do," Nora admitted through a mouthful of chocolate mousse. "That's half the fun of it though really, isn't it?"

"What about you Pyrrha?" Jaune asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, it supposed to be clear weather tonight," she replied. "I might go for a walk around the grounds and take it in. Or maybe just a quiet night in. I don't know really."

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang and some splintering sounds coming from the other table. Turning their attention to Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, Pyrrha realised that Yang had pounded the table with her fist so hard that she had nearly broken through the wooden table completely. Ruby, it seemed, was quite distraught by this.

"Yang, wait!" the girl in red protested as Yang left her seat. "You don't have to go and do this! I'm sure it'll sort itself out!"

"She's right, Yang. This isn't your fight," Blake added.

Yang stopped. "Look, you guys just wouldn't get it," the blonde said determinedly. "I'm going, and that's that. None of you better come after me either."

Despite more protests from the other members of team RWBY, Yang ignored them all as continued out of the hall. Once she was gone, Ruby, Weiss and Blake returned to their seats, but she could tell that the mood among them was tense to say the least. _Whatever Yang is getting involved in must be pretty serious for the rest of her team to be getting upset like that,_ Pyrrha realised. _Maybe I can try and talk her out of it. Maybe._

"Pyrrha? Where are you going?" Jaune asked as he realised that she wasn't done with her food.

"I'm just going to make sure Yang's alright," she assured him. "I'll see you guys soon, okay?"

Leaving the hall behind Yang, she caught a glimpse of the long blonde hair that draped from the woman's shoulders in the distance. _She's heading for the airbus landing strip,_ Pyrrha realised, her fast stride breaking into a jog. _Don't tell me she intends to get involved with all this business with Roman after all?_ Now at a full run, she quickly caught up to Yang, and Pyrrha noted that her earlier assumption had proven to be correct, as they were almost at the airbus strip.

"Yang, wait up!" Pyrrha called out to her.

Even without seeing her face, Pyrrha could feel the contempt coming from Yang as she approached. "Don't tell me, you've come to tell me that this is a horrible idea and that I should just go back to the dining hall," she said grumpily.

"First let me know what said plan is," Pyrrha said diplomatically.

Yang sighed. "Alright, so you know the guys in black suits that accompanied Roman during that incident earlier today?" she said, the touch of anger in her voice not unnoticed by Pyrrha. "I know who they really work for. Some information dealer by the name of Hei Xiong, but everyone just calls him Junior. He hired out his men to Roman to help with his Dust raids."

"How do you know all this?" Pyrrha asked her.

"Junior runs a club of some sort in Vale," Yang explained. "He supposedly knows everything there is to know in Vale, so I went to him looking for information. When I arrived there, I saw Roman leaving through another entrance, although I didn't even register it at the time because my focus was on Junior. That must have been when he had the deal with Junior to hire some of his men."

"Okay, so why are you getting involved now?" Pyrrha asked, not quite understanding Yang's motivations.

"People were hurt today, Pyrrha," Yang said angrily. "A building nearly collapsed, the police got involved, and you, Weiss, Ruby and Jaune were all put in danger because Junior decided to help Roman. I'm going to go find out what he knows about Roman's plans, and then I'm going to take him and the information to the police force."

"You actually think he will know anything?" Pyrrha said. "He might have only been told by Roman that he needed men."

"Well I don't see any other leads on Roman, do you?" Yang shouted angrily. "I could've had Roman that night, and I would not have hesitated to do so if I'd registered the fact that he was there. So now I'm going to set things right. So are you coming or not?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"This can go one of two ways, Pyrrha," Yang said. "You tell me to stop being an idiot and go back to the hall, and I ignore you and go anyway."

"Or…?"

"Or you come with me, and you help with finding out what Roman's up to."

Pyrrha stopped to consider her options for a moment, but ultimately decided that going with Yang was the better idea. _This way, not only will she have backup and strength in numbers, but I can also stop her from doing something she regrets. Besides, if I let her go and tell the others about what she had gone and done, I'm sure they'll just end up chasing after her anyway._

"Alright, but I'm only going so that you don't get into trouble you can't get out of," Pyrrha told her.

Yang's eyes lit up at the revelation. "This should make things much easier. I'm sure Junior's men will flee just at the sight of the mighty Pyrrha Nikos."

 _Oh. I see._ "Okay, so where is this club of Junior's?" she asked brightly, masking the pain Yang's words had inflicted.

"Oh, no, first we have to make a stop somewhere else," Yang said as they begun to stride once more towards the airbus strip. "When we arrive, we're going to arrive in style. Just you wait and see what I've got in store for you, Pyrrha."

* * *

The last place Pyrrha expected to end up was in an old warehouse district on the edge of Vale. It was night time when they arrived, and she was still in the dark about what exactly it was that Yang had come for. However, as Yang pressed a button on her scroll and one of the smaller warehouses opened up, she began to realise just what Yang had meant by them arriving in style.

"Since when do you have a motorcycle?" Pyrrha asked her as she took in the sleek design of the bike.

"I bought it about a year ago," Yang explained, grabbing the helmet on the motorcycle's handle. "My father pays for the rent for this small warehouse and allows me to keep it here. Fortunately, since it's on the edge of the city it doesn't cost too much."

"Wouldn't it have been quicker to just walk there?" Pyrrha asked her.

"Probably, but I don't get many chances to ride Bumblebee, so I take the ones I can get," Yang said.

"Bumblebee?"

"That's her name. Now get on."

 _Bumblebee? Really?_ Pyrrha wondered in her head, still trying to understand the seemingly bizarre name choice for the motorcycle. Nevertheless, she got on the back of the bike and held on tight as Yang started it up, revving the engine and clearing out any cobwebs that might've gathered in it since the last time she had used it. Even though she was behind her, Pyrrha could just picture the grin on Yang's face as she got ready to go.

"Oh, it's good to have you back," she heard Yang whisper. "Let's go visit our old friend, hey?"

Revving the engine, Bumblebee shot off the line and Pyrrha gasped at the surprising acceleration of the vehicle, although she managed to hold on well enough. AS they began to twist and turn through the streets of Vale, Pyrrha could easily see just how skilled of a rider Yang was, and she couldn't help but wonder where she had learned to ride a motorcycle so proficiently at a young age.

Disregarding the thought, Pyrrha allowed her mind to go blank as she let her body move with the bike beneath her, trusting that Yang wouldn't end up crashing. Sure enough, after around fifteen minutes of riding at speeds that she wasn't sure were legal, Yang turned down one last road, and Pyrrha noted the two men in black suits outside of what seemed to be a nightclub of some sort. _This must be Junior's club,_ she realised. However, to her surprise, the moment the two men standing outside saw Yang and Pyrrha approached they rushed inside. Yang, it seemed, was quite happy at this development.

"What was that all about?" Pyrrha asked as they pulled up.

"Oh, it's nothing," Yang replied, putting her helmet on the right handle of the motorcycle. "Come on, let's see if Junior's home."

Following Yang into the building, Pyrrha noted that the entrance seemed empty for a nightclub, especially on a weekend. As they walked past the usual ticket machines, she realised that the place was probably not operational for the time being, and suddenly it all clicked together. _Yang, what on earth did you do last time you were here?_ she couldn't help but wonder.

The answer to her question, however, came much quicker than she had expected. Junior's men, it seemed, had run ahead to try and shut the doors to the main room of the club in order to stop Yang from coming in. This didn't seem to bother Yang at all, though, as she blasted through the doors with a single punch from Ember Celica. As they walked through the now ruined doors, Pyrrha was staggered by the sheer level of carnage that was still apparent. Pillars were missing, floorboards were under repairs, and she could see scaffolding of sorts up to the second storey windows, where she could see some of the brickwork had apparently been knocked loose in the fighting.

"Yeah, I may have gone a _little_ overboard last time I was here," Yang admitted to Pyrrha, before turning to the crowd with a smile on her face. "Hey everyone! Did you miss me?"

Her question was met with most of Junior's man dropping what they were doing and aiming whatever weaponry they had in Yang's direction. The smile on her face turning to a scowl, Pyrrha went to reach for Milò and Akoùo, but Yang raised a hand to stop her from doing so, despite the fact that she herself had Ember Celica ready to fire.

"Where's Junior?" Yang demanded. "I got a few things to ask him."

Junior's men said nothing in reply, instead deciding to step warily forward toward Pyrrha and Yang. _They know what happened last time, so why do they think that attacking will do anything?_ Pyrrha wondered. It seemed to make no difference, though, as they continued to slowly advance and surround the duo. Yang balled her hands into fists, and Pyrrha knew that she was about to let loose.

"So that's how it's gonna be huh?" Yang said with a smirk. "Pyrrha, make sure no one interrupts us."

"Right."

Leaping forward into the fray, Yang dodged left and right, using Ember Celica to increase her speed as she avoided the bullets that careened towards her from most directions. Approaching her first victim, she delivered a punch straight in the chest, sending him flying across the dance floor and knocking another off his feet. Spinning immediately, she punched another in the face, cracking his glasses as she did so, before firing Ember Celica and propelling herself left into another, kicking this one in the stomach and sending him flying. _She's even more skilled than I thought,_ Pyrrha realised. _She's keeping up her speed up in order to avoid their attacks, and is using her gauntlets to regain any speed she loses from attacking. It's extremely efficient._

As some of Junior's men dropped their guns in favour of the swords at their belts, Yang charged at them with renewed ferocity, a smile on her face. Barrelling into the first in line, she punched him in the face before quickly turning to another and delivering quick, Ember Celica powered jabs to his chest before grabbing him by the arm and throwing him into some of his allies. She then fired explosive shells into the floor in front of some of the men, causing some to jump out of the way while others didn't get a chance to dodge out of the way. Propelling herself back into the fray once more, Yang delivered powerful blow after powerful blow, with most of Junior's men only needing one or two hits to take out.

"Hey, what the hell's going on here?"

The voice came from behind Pyrrha, and she turned with weapons drawn to see a very tall man enter the building through the ruined doorway. Unlike the henchmen that Yang was currently dismantling, he wore a black vest over a white, long sleeve shirt instead of the suits worn by the others.

"Who are you?" the man demanded, before peering past Pyrrha to see Yang. "Oh, god, she's back…"

"You know Yang?" Pyrrha asked warily.

"Yes, she's the one that destroyed my club," the man said. "Hey, everyone, stop fighting! That's enough!"

Yang's fist stopped inches from the face of the next unfortunate henchmen as she heard Junior's voice. With a smile on her face, she lowered her fists and ignored the men, who had stopped coming after her at Junior's behest, and began walking towards Junior and Pyrrha, the latter of which was still putting together everything that was going on in her head.

"Junior, buddy, good to see you," Yang said happily.

The man simply gulped. "Hey, blondy," he said nervously. "You're… back, for some reason."

"You and I need to have a little chat, Junior," Yang said, suddenly serious. "And just in case you try to pull anything, I've brought Pyrrha Nikos with me. You know who she is, don't you?"

"Wait, you're Pyrrha?" Junior said, slightly shocked. "Yes, of course, whatever you say. Let's find somewhere private to chat."

Leading Pyrrha and Yang away from the main dance floor, Junior took them to what Pyrrha could only assume was a back room or office of some kind. The main desk in the middle was covered in paperwork, no doubt related to the damage that Yang had caused the last time she had been at the club. Motioning for them to sit, Junior took a seat on the other side of the table, pouring himself a glass of whiskey as he did so.

"So how can I help you ladies?" Junior asked, taking a sip of the whiskey.

"Roman Torchwick," Yang said seriously. "He was leaving here last time I was here. You made a deal with him lending him some of your men, didn't you?"

"What's it to you, blondy?" Junior replied wryly.

Yang smacked a fist on the table. "Answer the question, Junior, before I send you through that wall behind you."

"Okay, okay," Junior said, raising his hands as if to surrender. "Yes, I loaned some men out to Roman Torchwick, although from what I've heard they've been pretty useless, although that's nothing new."

"They've been helping him in raids on Dust stores," Yang told him. "Ruby stopped one, and Weiss helped Ruby to stop another one earlier today. Why is Roman going after Dust stores?"

"How should I know?" Junior protested. "He wanted to hire some men, so I hired them out to him, and since none have returned I have no idea what he's up to."

"You're supposed to know everything there is to know in Vale, Junior," Yang said ominously.

"It's a figure of speech, blondy," Junior told her. "I know a lot, yes, but I don't know everything. I've got no idea what Roman's up to."

"Why, you…"

"Yang," Pyrrha said, jumping up to grab Yang's arm. "We should go. We aren't going to learn anything more here."

"But –"

"If he knew something, he'd tell you," Pyrrha said. "Now come on. Don't go making another scene."

Yang huffed and shrugged off Pyrrha's arm, but did nothing against Junior, instead deciding to storm out of the room instead. Deciding to follow her, Pyrrha heard Junior breath a loud sigh of relief as she left. Walking behind Yang through the dancefloor on the way out, Pyrrha noted the wariness and fear on many of the faces of Junior's henchmen as they passed by. Some of them even made sure not to get close to Yang as she walked through, going out of their way to make sure she didn't take her anger out on them. Instead, as they left, Yang let her anger out on the doors she had already damaged, blowing them off their hinges with a single strike. Once outside, Yang seemed to have calmed down a little, but it was evident that she was still frustrated.

"I was sure he would know something," Yang said eventually.

"We should leave Roman to the authorities," Pyrrha suggested. "This isn't really our fight."

"The authorities have had no luck catching that guy," Yang reminded her. "Someone has to do something. He can't be allowed to keep getting away with this."

"I know, Yang, but I think that's enough for one day," Pyrrha said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We should get back to Beacon. It's getting late."

"It's just so frustrating," Yang said with a sigh. "If only I'd realised he was there that night, I could've stopped him."

"It's too late to worry about that sort of thing, Yang," Pyrrha said helpfully. "Come on, we'd better hurry back to the airbus before we get caught in Vale for the night."

"You're right," Yang said, grabbing the helmet. "Just know one thing, Pyrrha. If you think this is over, it isn't. Roman's going to keep attacking these dust stores."

"I know," Pyrrha said in turn. "But right now there's nothing that we can do."

"We'll see," Yang huffed, before revving the engine of Bumblebee and taking them both back to the warehouse on the edge of the city.


	4. Jaune and Cardin

Hey guys, so these uploads have been coming quick so far. However, now that I am settling into a routine, I will probably release around one chapter a week from here on out. Anyway, enjoy!

 **Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Jaune and Cardin**

Not much happened for the next two weeks for Pyrrha and the rest of team JNPR. Outside of normal classes, Pyrrha saw Jaune every day on the rooftop where they would train from six to seven on different attacking and defensive strategies. She was impressed by the speed with which Jaune took her lessons to heart, with both his stance and fluidity improving greatly in just a couple of weeks. However, as time went on, she noted that he seemed to be getting more and more tired mentally, and by the time the second weekend came around, it was evident to everyone, not just Pyrrha, that Jaune was exhausted.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" she asked him as their session for the day drew to a close.

"What? Nothing's wrong," Jaune protested.

"Jaune, the bags under your eyes have bags," Pyrrha pointed out. "You've obviously been up late most nights. What's going on? Can I help?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just…" Jaune stopped himself from going any further.

"Jaune, you can talk to me," Pyrrha told him. "I'm here for you, okay? If you need help with something, just ask."

Jaune sighed, taking a seat on the floor. "It's Cardin," he said eventually. "He has me doing all of his homework for him, meaning I've had to stay up for a good three hours longer than normal each night at the least."

"What? Why would you do that?" Pyrrha asked.

"Because I don't have much of a choice," Jaune told her. "You remember that day, what, early last week? It was just after that incident with Weiss and Ruby and all that. Cardin and I were asked to stay behind after class by Professor Port."

"I do remember that," Pyrrha recalled. "You mentioned it was about your results."

"Exactly," Jaune said. "Port was disappointed in how we had done during initiation and the first few classes. Attentiveness, quizzes, all that stuff. So after that little meeting Cardin took me aside and told me that I was going to do all of his work for him. 'Or else', he said."

"Or else? Or else what, he will hurt you?" Pyrrha asked, concerned. "Have you gone to any of the professors about this?" Pyrrha asked. "Maybe I could –"

"No, Pyrrha," Jaune cut in sharply. "You can't. He's not going to hurt me like that. You just don't understand."

"Then tell me, Jaune," Pyrrha pleaded. "I hate seeing people like this, especially you. Let me help."

"Look, it's nothing you can help with, alright?" Jaune said stubbornly. "I'll figure out how to sort this out, but this is something I have to do on why own."

"But why, Jaune? What could possibly be so bad that you won't let your friends help you?" Pyrrha asked worriedly.

"Pyrrha, you wouldn't understand," Jaune repeated.

"Try me, Jaune," Pyrrha said crossly. "Tell me what's going on."

"I can't!" Jaune yelled heatedly.

"Jaune?"

 _What the hell is going on?_ That thought, and a great many others, raced through her mind as Jaune held his head in his hands, the frustration of the whole situation clearly getting to him. Not sure of what to do, Pyrrha stood there in awkward silence and watched Jaune slowly regain composure of himself.

"Do you really want to know what's going on, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked eventually.

"Yes, of course," Pyrrha said, relieved. "Please, tell me so I can help you."

"You gotta promise me you won't tell this to anyone, alright?" Jaune said softly. "Not to Nora, not to Ren, no one."

"I promise."

"Okay… how do I put this," Jaune said to himself. "Look, Pyrrha, I forged my way into Beacon."

"What?" Pyrrha gasped.

"Please don't tell anyone!" Jaune said quickly, almost as if he regretted saying it.

"Why would you forge your way into Beacon?" Pyrrha asked, confused.

"Family legacy," Jaune explained slowly after a short pause. "Like I told you already, my family has a long line of hunters going back generations. This weapon, Crocea Mors, was wielded by my great-great grandfather in the Great War. They were all heroes, Pyrrha, and I'm, well, not."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Pyrrha said encouragingly.

"No, it was," Jaune countered with a tinge of anger. "I've always been the lovable idiot, the damsel in distress, and I've got sick of it. I wanted more than anything to be just like them. Like you. Strong. Confident. Respected."

"You know it may not be all it's cracked up to be," Pyrrha said. "But at least you've started on the right path to achieving that goal."

"I mean, that's true, but if word gets out that I forged those documents they'll kick me out for sure," Jaune said.

Pyrrha took to one knee, looking Jaune in the eyes. "I'll respect your judgement, but just know that I'll be here if you need me, alright? Besides, your already in now. If needs be I'll talk to Ozpin himself about your progress."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Jaune protested.

"I want to," Pyrrha countered.

"I still don't understand why you're helping me so much," Jaune said as he stood, wiping a tear from his eye. "I mean, I get that we're on the same team and all, but you're smart, popular, skilled at fighting… hell, you're famous! I just don't see why you'd hang around and help someone like me out."

Pyrrha rubbed her left arm meekly. "Well, you'd be surprised," she said vaguely.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune said in a concerned voice.

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said happily. "Just make sure you look after yourself, okay Jaune? I want you to get a good night's rest tonight."

"But I have –"

"No buts," Pyrrha said, cutting him off. "I'm telling you this as your teacher and as your friend. Get some sleep. You can't carry on like this."

Jaune sighed. "You're right, again," he said. "Besides, I do have an early morning tomorrow. Perhaps it's for the best."

"What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"I'm heading into Vale tomorrow with some people," Jaune said. "You know me, Mr. Popular."

"Oh really?" Pyrrha said with a slight smirk. "Who are you going with?"

"… Cardin."

"Oh," Pyrrha said, her smile fading. "I see."

"Yeah, we're going dust shopping," Jaune said, faking enthusiasm.

"They're making you buy, aren't they?"

"I don't know, probably," Jaune admitted. "They just told me I'm going with them."

"Please take care of yourself," Pyrrha pleaded. "If you need a hand just give me a call on your scroll, alright?"

"I will," Jaune nodded, before sheathing his blade. "I have to go. I'll see you here tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," Pyrrha said with a slight nod. "Be sure to get some rest, Jaune."

"Will do, Pyrrha," Jaune said as he walked off. "See you!"

As Pyrrha gathered up the couple of books that she had brought with her, her mind was racing at a million miles a minute as she fully took in the conversation that she had just had with Jaune. _I wonder if he realises how wrong he was about his assumption of me,_ she thought. _I mean, I know that he doesn't care about all of that, but does he realise that people avoid me because of my status? That I've never really had any true and proper friends before JNPR?_ Sighing, Pyrrha began heading towards the exit from the rooftop. _Just be safe, Jaune._

* * *

During their training the next day, Jaune revealed very little about his trip into Vale to Pyrrha, although he did reassure her that nothing bad happened to him during the trip. Despite this, Pyrrha could tell that the business with Cardin was really weighing him down, and she was concerned that it would not only start to impact upon his growth as a swordsman, but also that it could start changing him as a person. She tried to bring it up, but Jaune simply brushed it off with a comforting smile and proceeded with the drill that she had laid out for him. _I just wish he would let me help,_ she couldn't help but think to herself.

The last day of the weekend came and went, although Pyrrha did hear about Nora and Yang getting into a scuffle over the last lot of pancakes in the dining hall. Nonetheless, the new week began with an announcement from Glynda Goodwitch to the entire first year class in the amphitheatre, stating that they would be heading in Forever Fall Forest that day for some sort of expedition.

"You will be travelling with assigned teams and assigned teachers," Glynda explained. "Your missions will vary depending on who you are with, but the goal at the end is to all return to the Academy and teach the other students what you learned on the day trip. The goal of this is to test not only your studying and teaching abilities, but also how you learn and adapt in a more active environment."

As Glynda went down the lists of different team and professors, Pyrrha tuned out as she discreetly looked over at Jaune, analysing him. He appeared to be more awake than he been during their training session at the end of the studying week, but he still seemed slightly out of it and even appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open due to the earliness of the assembly. _Poor guy._

"Team JNPR and Team CRDL, you will be accompanying Professor Port," Glynda announced.

 _You cannot be serious,_ Pyrrha thought as Jaune slumped in defeat next to her. _What are the chances of that happening? This is just ridiculous._ To her left, Ren and Nora looked worriedly at Jaune, who brushed off their concern telling them that he was fine with a smile on his face, but Pyrrha knew better. _I won't let Cardin mess with Jaune on this trip. We're a team, and so we're going to look after him._

"That will be all, children," Glynda said after she had finished reading out the list. "The professors will be waiting for you all at the airstrip. The buses leave in half an hour. If you are not there by this time, you will be given a detention. Dismissed."

"I wonder what we will be tasked with," Nora wondered excitedly as they left the amphitheatre with the rest of the students. "Maybe we have to fight some Grimm and report on how they attack. That'd be fun."

"More likely it'll be something to do with the fauna or flora in Forever Fall," Pyrrha said. "We're only first years. They wouldn't send first years on a find-and-kill mission, even with one of the professors."

"We are teamed with Professor Port, though," Ren pointed out. "Maybe we will be doing something related to the Grimm."

Jaune said nothing as they walked, with gave Pyrrha more than cause for concern. She could tell that the thought of having to be around Cardin was bad enough, but now his whole team was going to be there. That was something that Pyrrha could tell was causing Jaune a lot of distress.

"It'll be fine, Jaune," Pyrrha said helpfully.

"The professor will be there," Jaune said more to himself than anyone else. "It'll be okay."

"If Cardin starts anything I'll break his legs," Nora told him. "We've got your back, leader."

"Thanks, guys," Jaune said with a slight genuine smile. "Thanks for having my back."

"That's what a team is for, right?" Ren pointed out.

As they made their way to the airstrip with the plethora of other students, they soon found Professor Port standing beside an airbus, with team CRDL already waiting there with him. The professor gave them a hearty wave and smile as they approached, with Pyrrha and Nora returning the favour. Jaune kept his head down as they went into the airbus, making sure they he didn't make eye contact with Cardin and the others, which gave them all the more reason to grin at his discomfort. As they took their seats on opposite sides of the airbus, Professor Port was seemingly oblivious to the tension between the two teams as he began to speak.

"Alright, children, I'm sure you're all eager to learn about what we will be doing on this trip into Forever Fall," Port said heartily. "We will be searching for a plant called _androdius morinus,_ a plant that, when set on fire, will attract wildlife to it, including Grimm."

"So why exactly are we looking for this plant then if it attracts Grimm?" Dove asked.

"An excellent question," Port said. "Our intention here today is for you to collect samples from different areas of the forest and bring them back to Beacon for examination. Think of it more as helping your professors out."

"So we're just being lackeys for the day," Cardin said grudgingly.

"Not exactly," Port answered in turn. "You'll see what I mean once you start collecting the samples."

"Are there different subspecies of this plant?" Ren asked.

"Very good," Port said in admiration. "Ren, is it? Yes, _androdius morinus_ does indeed have many different sub-species, all with unique patterns on their leaves. You will have to find as many of these different sub-species in the time we have been given today."

"Plant picking. Yay," Nora said, completely uninterested.

Port gave a laugh. "This will be good fun," he said. "Why, it reminds me of the time I went on my first field trip as a teacher of Beacon. The students were all so enthusiastic, much like you lot. We were going on the hunt for this Boarbatusk that had been harassing a nearby village…"

Although it was something that Pyrrha disliked doing, she slowly tuned out of the monologue that Professor Port was delivering. _It's not like I do it when he's actually teaching,_ Pyrrha rationalised with herself. _It's only for when he's going on about stories from his past. Granted, that does make up a lot of his classes, but still…_

It seemed that she wasn't the only one disinterested in the monologue that Port was giving. Ren seemed to doing some sort of meditation, Nora was gawking out of the side window of the airbus, Jaune was still looking at his feet awkwardly, and the members of team CRDL were all fidgeting about doing one thing or another. Pyrrha couldn't help but sigh. _This is going to be a long flight..._

Fortunately for her, however, it seemed that their trip to Forever Fall Forest was most likely one of the shortest out of all the trips being taken that day. Within an hour of leaving Beacon Academy, they touched down in some sort of clearing close to the train tracks that ran through the forest itself. Stepping out of the airbus, the first thing Pyrrha noted was the distinct lack of a breeze, undoubtedly from how thick the trees were in the forest. The rest of the passengers came out after her, many stretching and taking in the beauty of the auburn forest. Port, unsurprisingly, was eager to get to work.

"The first order of business is to split the eight of you into pairs," Port said. "Pyrrha, you are with Dove. Nora, with Ren. Sky with Russel, and Jaune with Cardin. Any objections?"

"Yes," said Pyrrha, Dove, and Jaune in unison.

"Good, let's begin then shall we?" Port said with a laugh.

After being forced to accept their given partners, the two teams split off and began heading in separate directions, the look of the _androdius morinus_ plant on their scrolls in order to help them find the plant easier. As they walked, Pyrrha realised that Dove was very quiet, as she noted that he hadn't said a word during the entire trip. _An introvert, maybe,_ she thought to herself as they walked. _Or maybe he's just intimidated. Wouldn't be the first time, and certainly wouldn't be the last._

As the morning dragged on, Pyrrha and Dove soon began to come across different kinds of the plant. Some had swirling patterns, while other had straight line that meant Pyrrha almost mistook them for leaves that had fallen from the trees. As they walked, they decided to head right up a hill in order to see if that had any effect on the different types of plants they were looking for. As it happened, they did find another sub-species of the plant at the top of the hill, but the view over Forever Fall Forest was very distracting.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Pyrrha commented contently. Dove simply grunted in agreement.

A scream suddenly came in the distance, just loud enough for Pyrrha to hear. Due to the distance at which it had come from, she was unable to determine through its tone who it was that had screamed, but she was able to guess pretty easily. _Jaune,_ she thought to herself as she sprinted toward the direction of the scream, leaving Dove far behind. _He was with Cardin. He better not have hurt him…_

Following the top of the hill, Pyrrha soon stumbled upon the scene. The two parts of Crocea Mors had been thrown onto the ground, and Pyrrha crashed through the tree line just in time to see Cardin, who was accompanied by Sky and Russel, throw Jaune angrily down the steep hill.  
"What do you think you're doing?!" Pyrrha yelled angrily.

She didn't even need to think as she leapt at a now terrified Cardin, slamming into him with her shield and sending him down the hill after Jaune with much more force than Cardin had been able to manage. The other members of team CRDL were quick to scatter into the trees at the sight of Pyrrha's anger, leaving her to pick up Crocea Mors and hurry after the duo via a much safer route. By the time she got to the bottom, she could see Professor Port heading for the scene accompanied by Nora and Ren. Below her, Jaune and Cardin were struggling to get to their feet, the tumble down the hill having clearly done some serious damage despite their Aura. _Or maybe it was already depleted beforehand through a fight,_ Pyrrha realised as she ran past Cardin to Jaune. _Oh, god, Jaune, what did you do?_

"Are you alright?" she whispered to Jaune as she helped him into a seated position. His face was covered in bruises.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jaune said, lying through his teeth. "Just tried… to get things sorted."

"You tried to stand up to him?" Pyrrha asked in wonder.

"Tried and failed," Cardin said as he pushed himself onto his feet. "You've done it now, Jaune. Well done."

"What's going on here?" Professor Port demanded. "I heard screaming."

"We were attacked by an Ursa," Cardin lied. "Jaune got knocked down the hillside and I had to kill it myself, Professor."

"That's a lie," Pyrrha snapped.

"There was no Ursa, Professor," Jaune said. "Cardin attacked me when I tried to tell him to stop bullying me."

"I'd suggest watching your tongue, blondy," Cardin whispered angrily.

"Why, what's going on?" Port demanded.

"I'll tell you what's going on, Professor," Cardin said, realising that he wasn't going to be able to spin the argument his way. "Jaune lied his way into Beacon. He forged the entry documents."

Jaune went white. "Young man, is what Cardin is saying true?" Port demanded.

"… yes, sir," Jaune said meekly.  
"This trip is over," Port said angrily. "Cardin, Jaune, the both of you are to report to Headmaster Ozpin immediately once we return to Beacon."

"What? What did I do?" Cardin protested, feigning innocence."

"I don't know who you take me for, child, but I know a bully when I see one," Port scowled.

"Wait, Professor, Jaune shouldn't be punished like this," Pyrrha protested. "He just wanted to continue his family legacy, and he's made so much progress as a swordsman so quickly –"

"Are you insinuating that you knew about Jaune's position and didn't tell anyone?" Port asked angrily.

Pyrrha froze, realising what she had just said. "Yes, sir," she said with a timid nod.

"Then you will be reporting to Ozpin with these two," Port said crossly. "Everyone back on the airbus. We're leaving."

* * *

Pyrrha stood in Ozpin's office along with Jaune and Cardin, hands behind her back and eyes on the floor. It had been around two hours since they had left Forever Fall Forest, and they were now in the presence of Glynda Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin at the top of the Cross Continental Transmit Tower. The Headmaster himself was seated behind his desk, and she could feel his eyes boring into her every time they wandered her way.

"Professor Port has given me quite a detailed report about the events that happened on your trip today," Ozpin began. "You've all heard what he had to say. Do any of you object to what he has said."

"No, Headmaster," they all said in unison.

"Good," Ozpin said, his tone undecipherable to Pyrrha. "Mister Winchester, you are suspended for three weeks. That means you will be confined to your dorm room and the lecture halls. Additionally, you will be given no marks for the work that you made Jaune do in your name, and are forbidden from leaving Beacon campus. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Cardin said weakly.

"Also, if I hear that you've been bullying any of the other students again, you will be removed from Beacon grounds permanently. I will not tolerate that sort of behaviour at my school."

"Yes, Headmaster."

"Good," Ozpin said, seemingly satisfied with Cardin's response. "You are dismissed."

As Pyrrha watched him go, she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to Jaune. _There's no way they're going to let him off lightly for lying his way into Beacon Academy,_ she thought anxiously. _There has to be some way of making sure he stays. I know that it hasn't been long, but he's already an integral part of our team. It just wouldn't be right._

"Now, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, turning his piercing gaze to her. "I am told that you have been training Jaune every day for quite some time now. Is this true?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Pyrrha replied nervously. "He's been learning very quickly. He's already well on his way to mastering the basics of swordsmanship, sir."

"I see," Ozpin said. "Mister Arc, what do you have to say to this?"

"I'm trying my hardest, Mister Headmaster sir," Jaune said, eyes fixated on the ground. "I've been taking extra lessons from Pyrrha, and I've been doing a tonne of extra reading outside of classes to catch up on sword and shield techniques, and –"

"Thank you, that's quite enough," Ozpin said, cutting him off. "Mister Arc, I presume you are well aware of the situation you currently find yourself in."

"Yes, Headmaster," Jaune whispered.

"You lied on legal documents in order to enter this Academy," Ozpin stated. "Such an act is punishable by law. If I wanted to, I could have you charged in a court of law despite you being underage. Do you understand this, Mister Arc?"

"Yes, Headmaster," was all Jaune could say in reply.

Ozpin paused for a second. "Under normal circumstances, I would punish the student in your position by expelling them from my school and making sure they could never join another Hunter or Huntress Academy. However…"

"However?" Jaune repeated, a spark of hope appearing in his eyes.

"Due to your attitude toward learning and improving yourself, I am willing to make an exception in this case," Ozpin said, before raising a hand to quell Jaune's gratitude. "However, if you elect to remain at my school, there will be a number of things that you must accomplish in order to remain here."

"Of course, anything!" Jaune said happily. "You name it, I'll do it. Just please let me stay."

"Take care to pay attention to this, Miss Nikos," Ozpin told her. "Jaune Arc, in order to remain at Beacon Academy, you must do the following. By the end of the semester, your marks for the written portions of your studies must be above seventy-five. Any less, and you're out."

"Of course," Jaune said. "I'm assuming there's more."

"During the upcoming Vytal Festival, you will be under Glynda Goodwitch's command during the setting up process. If she asks for you to do something, you are to do it without question," Ozpin said. "Finally, the third thing you must do."

"Yes?" Jaune asked eagerly.

"In a few weeks' time, there will be another of these trips being set up for the first years, except this time it will be an overnight trip," Ozpin stated. "I will be assigning team JNPR to Mount Glenn. Your mission does not matter, but this does. You are to go unaided by your teammates during this trip. If you are alive at the end of the trip thanks solely to your own abilities, then you will be allowed to stay at this Academy. Understood?"

Jaune gulped, obviously rattled by the challenge. "Yes, Headmaster," he said eventually. "I will not let you down, sir."

"These are my terms, Mister Arc," Ozpin reminded him. "Complete them, and you will be permitted to stay. You and Miss Nikos are dismissed."

"Thank you for this, Headmaster," Pyrrha said, before walking out with an anxious yet relieved Jaune.

As she watched the elevator doors close behind them, Glynda Goodwitch couldn't help but scowl at the whole situation. On her tablet was the documents that Jaune had forged in order to get into Beacon, but one thing about the whole situation was bothering her. Placing the tablet on the table, she looked Ozpin in the eye in order to get the truth from him.

"You knew they were forged from the start, didn't you?" she asked more as a statement of fact than anything else.

"He comes from a long line of powerful warriors, and has the right attitude to go with it," Ozpin explained. "I was not about to let his potential go to waste."

Glynda sighed, turning away and looking out the window over the Academy. "I just hope you're right."


	5. A Request for Beacon

**Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – A Request for Beacon**

"Now, class, can someone tell me what is the best way to hurt an Ursa Major?"

It had been a week since the trip with team CRDL. Much to Pyrrha's relief, Jaune was finally beginning to get the sleep he needed now that Cardin wasn't blackmailing him, and already it was showing. The bags under his eyes were beginning to disappear, and his attentiveness and eagerness during class and practises was on the rise again. She noted that Nora and Ren had also realised this, and their attitude toward him had begun to go back to normal, rather than concerned, as well. _We're finally able to get back on track as a team now that Jaune is back to normal_ , Pyrrha thought to herself.

"Yes, Miss Belladonna?" Peter Port said to her raised hand.

"The most un-protected part is its underbelly," Blake answered. "Although it can be taken down through other methods, the underbelly is the only part of its body that's unarmoured."

"Very good, Miss Belladonna," Peter Port said. "I remember when Professor Oobleck suggested the same thing during a combined trip to Mount Glenn for an extermination run with some second years a few years ago. We landed near the old CBD of the settlement, and within minutes of being on the ground a group of Ursa Major's jumped us…"

"Does he ever get tired of his old stories?" Nora whispered to herself.

"No," came Ren's quick reply.

Pyrrha stifled a giggle so as not to attract the attention of the professor, but her good mood was spoiled as her eyes scanned the room and she saw Jaune sitting with Weiss, who seemed totally uninterested in whatever Jaune was saying to her. _Jaune really can't take a hint, can he?_ she thought to herself with a sigh. _He's probably trying to ask her out again, or maybe it's something to do with the ball in a few weeks time…_

"Are you okay, Pyrrha?" Ren whispered to her.

Pyrrha snapped out of her train of thought. "Of course," she said with a small laugh.

"You were just really tense and had your fists clenched is all," Ren continued.

"Lie Ren, is there something you would like to share with the class?" Professor Port said irritably.

"No, professor," Ren replied quickly.

"Good, then please remain quiet," Port said with a huff. "Now, as I was saying…"

"Pardon the interruption," said a voice from the doorway. "I must speak with some of your students."

The class and Professor Port turned to the open doorway to see Glynda Goodwitch standing in it, with a serious yet calm expression across her face. In one hand she held her larger version of a scroll, while the other was down by her waist. As she walked over to Professor Port, it was clear to Pyrrha that she hadn't come here for a friendly chat.

"Of course, Glynda," Professor Port said. "Which students would you like to speak with?"

"Team JNPR, Headmaster Ozpin wishes to see you," Glynda said quickly. "If you would, please accompany me to his office."

"We're right in the middle of class, Glynda," Port said gruffly. "Is it really necessary to remove an entire team?"

"Yes, Professor. This is something that requires them all," Glynda retorted. "Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren. Please, come with me."

As the rest of the class watched on in slight confusion and concern, Jaune said his goodbye to Weiss, which was ignored, and caught up with the rest of his team as they followed Glynda out of the classroom, Pyrrha's mind racing. _Is this about Jaune? Or what happened in Vale with the dust store or with Yang?_ She mentally shook her head in frustration. Worrying was going to get her nowhere.

"So why does Ozpin want to see us?" Jaune asked nervously.

"He asked to speak with you," Glynda said as they began to walk between the lecture hall and the Cross Continental Transmit Tower. "And before you ask, no, it's not about events regarding your enrolment here at Beacon."

"Oh thank goodness," Jaune said with a sigh of relief.

They followed the pathway to the tower, where Glynda led them through the building to the elevator. Although it was a little tight fitting five people into the elevator, they were still relatively comfortable as they made their way up to Ozpin's office atop the tower. Once the doors opened, the first thing that Pyrrha noted was that Ozpin was looking out the window over the Academy itself and beyond to the cliff-face that led to the water.

"As you know, Roman Torchwick has seemingly been focussing his recent efforts on acquiring as much Dust as he can," Ozpin said without looking at them. "This morning, a request came in from the owner of the new store that has opened up that I believe you were trying to visit a while ago. Tonight, his company will be receiving a large shipment of Dust down by the docks. He seeks protection against what he believes to be an inevitable attack from Torchwick and his men."

"So he wants Beacon to send some of its hunter and huntresses in training as bodyguards?" Pyrrha asked, slightly confused. "Why not send one of the other teams from second year or above that are more trained?"

"An excellent question, Miss Nikos," Ozpin replied, looking her directly in the eye as he began to walk back to his desk. "You and Jaune were involved in one of his attacks on a Dust store a few weeks ago. Glynda and I want you to be his bodyguards to see if you can extract any more information from Roman, should he arrive."

"Aside from team RWBY, who have had a couple run-ins with Roman's men in the past, you are the only ones who've had to deal with them before," Glynda added. "However, what influenced our choice the most was that the owner wanted to meet you, Pyrrha. He's a pretty big fan from what we could gather."

Great. "It'll be nice to meet him," Pyrrha said with a smile.

"So if everyone's in agreement, I want you all to report to the airbus strip in half an hour with your gear," Glynda continued. "The owner wishes to give you a rundown of the site and the process they will going through tonight when you will be on guard."

"Did he mention how long we will be there for?" Ren asked.

"He believes about three hours," Glynda replied. "He said that once he has the shipping containers into his warehouses then he will no longer require assistance, but the process of getting them off the ships and into the warehouses will take some time."

"I expect you all to be diligent in this operation," Ozpin added. "Beacon is seen as one of the shining lights of the world of hunter and huntresses. You are expected to live up to these standards."

"Of course, Headmaster," Pyrrha answered. "We will do our best to fulfil this man's wishes."

"You had better get going then," Glynda said. "Grab your gear and head for the airbus strip. I will make sure one it ready for you when you arrive."

As the team headed for the elevator, Pyrrha could see that Jaune seemed rather anxious about the assignment they had been given. She wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. Judging from the look on Nora and Ren's faces, they had no idea what to do either.

"It'll be fine, Jaune," Pyrrha said eventually. "Roman and his men might not even show up."

"And if they do?" Jaune retorted. "I can't fight those guys, Pyrrha."

"Yes you can, Jaune," she said assuredly. "You've gotten so much better in such a short amount of time. Besides, we will be there with you."

"Sorry, I'm just worried is all," Jaune sighed. "I'm the weak link here after all."

"Jaune, we will handle anything that comes up as a team," Pyrrha said with a smile. "We will be fine, I promise."

* * *

Night fell over the docks in Vale, and floodlights illuminated the area. Team JNPR had already met the owner, a slim, elderly man by the name of Keldrin, who had been quite excited to finally meet Pyrrha as Glynda had expected. After being given a tour of the docks and warehouse where the Dust would be placed after being taken off the ship, the team decided that the best thing they could do was split into two teams for the guard duty. Pyrrha would be with Jaune, while Ren and Nora would stick together. However, as the cranes began to lift the first shipping crate off of the docked ship, Pyrrha could tell that Jaune's nerves were starting to get to him.

"Jaune, it'll be fine," Pyrrha reassured him once again. "You fought these guys before, remember? And you've improved a lot since then."

"Pyrrha, I didn't actually fight against Roman's men last time," Jaune admitted. "Weiss and Ruby handled it. I just watched them."

"They might not even show up," Pyrrha reminded him, ignoring his comment. "We are simply here as insurance. But I have faith that you can handle them."

"Really?" Jaune asked sceptically.

"Really," Pyrrha said with a nod. "You'll do great."

They wandered near to the warehouses, where Keldrin had a few men clearing out the last of the old equipment in it in preparation for the dust shipping containers. In the distance near the crane and ship, Pyrrha could see Ren and Nora peering up at the machinery in action. _Nora's probably going off on one of her tangents,_ Pyrrha thought to herself. _Good on Ren for letting her do so, though. Not many people would have the patience for such a thing._

"How much longer is this going to take?" Jaune wondered nervously.

"The first container is coming off now," Pyrrha said. "There's supposed to be fourteen in total. Depending on how quickly the containers get moved to the warehouses, it shouldn't take too long. A couple hours, maybe three."

"Plenty of time for Roman to attack then," Jaune noted.

One thing that was worrying Pyrrha, though, was the sheer amount of directions that an attack could come from. There was the main entrance, which was definitely not guarded enough, but there was a plethora of other ways Roman could assault the docks. They were surrounded on all sides by warehouses, all of which could easily have been broken into hours ago and used as hiding points for henchmen. The water was unguarded too, giving Roman access via boat if he wanted to come that way. Additionally, she was aware of the fact that Roman seemed to have at least a couple of bullheads in his arsenal. If he chose to utilise those, Pyrrha wasn't sure they could take them down.

"Pyrrha, do you hear that?" Jaune asked suddenly.

Her ears pricked, picking something up in the distance. "Is that…?"

The roar grew closer, and Pyrrha's eyes widened as she began to take in the situation. From warehouses to their right came a steady stream of men in black suits, just like the ones she had seen with Roman before. Additionally, the sound coming from the distance was unmistakable. Roman was utilising everything he had for this raid.

"We need to regroup," Pyrrha said hurriedly. "Right now."

"Wait, what's happening?" Jaune asked anxiously as they headed for Ren and Nora, who were also running toward them.

"Co-ordinated attack," Pyrrha explained. "Bullhead by air, men on the ground. Roman must've known about this delivery for –"

Her words were cut off as a massive explosion ripped through the air. As she turned to look in the direction of the explosion, she saw smoke coming from what could only be the entrance point to the docks themselves. _He's taken out the guards at the entrance too_ , Pyrrha realised in horror. _Roman, what the hell…_

"What's going on?" Nora exclaimed as they reached each other. "First it was all nice and peaceful and now we've got men running at us and there was an explosion and…"

"Roman's gone for a full-on assault," Pyrrha explained. "There's fourteen shipping containers full of Dust here. He must be planning on taking all of them."

"How?" Nora asked. "He can't just fly off with all of them."

"He won't if we stop him," Jaune cut in. "We need a plan. Think, Jaune, think."

The bullhead finally came into view, and Pyrrha noted that there only appeared to be one of them. _How strange_ , she thought. _Lots of men on the ground, but only one bullhead? Just what exactly are they planning to do? How exactly are they going to get all of this Dust out of here?_

"Wait, I got it!" Jaune exclaimed as the stream of henchmen got closer to them. "Nora, Pyrrha, you remember how you took out the Death Stalker during the initiation trial?"

Nora and Pyrrha both realised what Jaune was thinking immediately. "You reckon you can handle it, Nora?" Pyrrha asked her.

Nora simply smirked. "Ohhhhh yeah. Get ready, Pyrrha."

Raising her shield above her head, Pyrrha took the weight of Nora as she jumped on top, her feet and the base of her hammer, Magnhild, placed firmly on her shield. Pyrrha bent her knees slightly, then thrust her shield upwards. At the same time, Nora created an explosion from her hammer, the combined thrust sending her flying into the sky toward the bullhead. With a slightly crazy grin across her face, Nora raised Magnhild above her head and came crashing down on the bullhead like a meteor, causing it to spin out of control from the impact. As Pyrrha watched on, she could see that the single blow had torn through the considerable armour placed on the windshield of the bullhead, and she could just make out the terrified expression of one of the pilots as Nora began firing grenades from the now grenade launcher she held through the hole and into the aircraft.

"Is she going to be okay?" Pyrrha asked as they readied themselves to face Roman's henchmen, the bullhead falling towards one of the warehouses nearby.

Ren smiled. "She's going to be more than fine," he said with a slight tint of admiration.

"Now Jaune, remember, shield up, and trust your Aura. It will protect you," Pyrrha said, giving some last tips.

"Thanks, Pyrrha," he said with a nod. "Ren, circle round the side. See if you can't thin them out a bit. And try and find Nora. We're going to need her."

Ren nodded and disappeared into the crates to their right. As he did so, Pyrrha switched Milò into its rifle form and began firing on the first men as they rounded the corner, stopping a few of them in their tracks. However, as her body went into cruise control and began performing manoeuvres it had performed hundreds of times, her mind was racing. _There has to be more to this attack than this_ , she thought worriedly as Milò took down more henchmen. _Some men and a bullhead? Sure, there's a lot of them, but there has to be more than this. And Roman is yet to show his face as well…_

As the men began to overwhelm her rifle's fire, Pyrrha switched it back into its xiphos form and braced for the imminent fight. She had to make herself as big a target as she could, because even though Jaune would be able to handle a few of them, she had no doubt that he would quickly become overwhelmed by sheer numbers if she wasn't careful. She had to take charge.

Pyrrha began to sprint forward, much to Jaune's and the henchmen's surprise, causing them to break stride momentarily. She used this to her advantage, cutting down four of them before the others had a chance to react. As the others began to take swing at her, she quickly danced amongst them, blocking and dodging with ease as Milo cut them down with little resistance. _These men have no technique, no skill, and little Aura,_ she thought to herself as she continued her deadly dance. _Just what did Roman hope to accomplish by sending all these men?_

As she slashed violently at another of the henchmen, she noted that Jaune had joined the fight, although he was getting much less attention that she was. Much to her satisfaction, she managed to see that he was indeed holding his own again Roman's men, although it took him much longer than she did to fend them off. As she disabled another with a ferocious bash with her shield, she couldn't help but smile slightly. _It was only about a month ago that he couldn't even keep his feet during his spar against Yang,_ she thought. _You've grown so much already, Jaune. Well done._

"Heads up!"

Pyrrha just managed to leap out of the way in time as Nora came flying into the battle, slamming Magnhild on the ground and sending dozens of men flying as she did so. Ren came running in behind her, cleaning up a few others, and by the time the dust had settled from Nora's attack, not only had the herd been thinned out considerably, but now the team was back together once again.

"Bullhead landing give you much trouble?" Jaune asked as they went back to back against the remnants of the assault.

"I may have taken a warehouse out with it, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Nora said dismissively. "What's-his-face can probably pay for it easy enough."

"Have you seen Roman?" Pyrrha asked, concerned.

"No, he wasn't in the bullhead," Ren said. "I haven't seen him at all."

"Then let's finish these guys off and go find him," Jaune said, readying his stance.

The remainder of the men didn't take long to take down. Morale already low from Pyrrha and Nora's attacks, and with many of them still off-set by the sheer force of Nora's entrance, they went down without much of a fight. With a few shots from Pyrrha's rifle, a couple of grenades from Nora's launcher, the swordplay from Jaune and short, precise stabs from Ren, the last of Roman's men were dispatched with deadly efficiency. As the last of their shots rang out, Pyrrha sheathed Milò, but was still very concerned about why Roman had yet to make an appearance.

"This isn't over," Ren said, echoing Pyrrha's thoughts.

"Roman hasn't shown," Jaune noted. "He always shows for things like this. It's his style."

"Guys," Nora said suddenly, pointing. "The ship."

The other three members turned to see that the ship which had brought the Dust to the docks was beginning to come to life. Although the crane had managed to get one of the crates off of the ship, the other thirteen were still on board. _The bullhead and the men weren't the main assault,_ Pyrrha realised in shock. _They were a distraction should there have been people be guarding the place. Just like we are._

"Can you guys make it on board?" Jaune asked hurriedly.

"I can," Pyrrha said confidently.

"I'll stay here with Jaune and make sure we've got everything here," Ren said quickly. "Nora, go with Pyrrha."

Nora chuckled slightly. "My pleasure."

The group split once more, Nora and Pyrrha sprinting toward the ship, with Pyrrha deep in thought as they did so. _I didn't want to use my semblance so openly, and I used Weiss' glyphs last time, but I won't have much of a choice this time_ , she thought to herself. _I usually use it very subtly, to make it seem like I'm untouchable and give me the mental advantage… but this time I'm going to have to use it properly._

"Nora, keep a tight grip on Magnhild," Pyrrha instructed, readying herself.

"Why?" Nora asked.

"Because I'm going to take us up to the deck of the ship," she said. "Just trust me, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nora said, gripping her hammer tightly.

Concentrating her energy on Akoùo and Magnhild, Pyrrha felt the magnetic energies around them and began to pull them upward. Nora gasped as her feet left the ground, Magnhild seemingly flying above her head, much in the same way that Akoùo was above Pyrrha's. However, once they landed on the deck of the ship, Nora's shock had turned to elation.

"We have to do that again sometime," she exclaimed.

"Later," Pyrrha said, readying herself. "Let's deal with Roman first."

"Well, well, if it isn't Beacon's own little superstar. You just love getting involved where you don't belong, don't you?"

The two of them turned to the sound of the voice and saw Roman Torchwick standing at the front of the ship's superstructure. Beside him was a quite short woman with pink and brown hair, and an outfit to match. However, what bothered Pyrrha the most were the henchmen that accompanied the duo, for they wore white singlets with black hoods and had mask on their faces. _These are members of the White Fang_ , Pyrrha realised. _What are they doing partnered with Roman?_

"What do you want with the Dust, Roman?" Pyrrha demanded.

"My, you're repetitive," Roman commented. "You really think that if I didn't answer that last time I'd tell you now? You're not as smart as some people would believe, are you?"

"Can I hit him yet?" Nora asked angrily.

"I must thank you and your friends though," Roman continued. "Junior's men were utterly useless, and you just dealt with the last of them. Now I can move onto bigger and better things."

"With terrorists?" Pyrrha asked, confused.

"With people who will get the job done," Roman replied. "But that matters little to you, champ. Your constant interruptions end here."

Roman raised his cane, and Pyrrha noted the scope that had appeared on the end of it just in time to raise her shield against the incoming grenade. It exploded as it hit, knocking her back a few metres, but she kept her feet thanks to her stance. Lowering the shield, she noted that the members of the White Fang in front of her were all carrying guns and other weaponry. _This isn't going to be easy._

"Nora," Pyrrha said, getting the ginger's attention.

"Yes?"

"Hit them."

"Finally!"

Pyrrha watched as Nora shot three grenades in quick succession from her launcher sending members of the White Fang flying. As she did so, Roman turned away with a slightly disgusted look, the woman with pink and brown hair following him back into the superstructure of the ship. _He's going to start it moving,_ Pyrrha realised. _If this ship leaves the dock, we don't have a way of getting it back._

"Nora, can you deal with these guys?" she yelled over the gunfire.

"Of course, don't let him get away!" Nora yelled back.

Pyrrha nodded and ran through the gunfire with expert movement, raising her shield to block attacks and taking out a couple of the men with Milò on her way. As she made it to the superstructure of the ship, she entered at the lowest level and quickly ran to the top where she hoped the controls for the ship were located. With the sounds of battle echoing outside, and after dispatching a couple of White Fang members on the way up, she finally made it to the top to find Roman and the woman at the helm. _The controls are here,_ she noted. _If I destroy them, then this ship isn't going anywhere._

"Look, champ, you really shouldn't get involved," Roman warned, turning to face her. "I'm telling you this for your own good. Stay out of my way."

"Not a chance," Pyrrha said defiantly. "You're a wanted criminal, Roman. I'm not letting you get away."

"You expect me to come quietly like a good little boy?" Roman said mockingly.

"No," Pyrrha admitted. "But if you don't, I'll destroy these ships controls and even if you beat me, the Dust won't be going anywhere. So what's going to be, Roman? Surrender, or stand and fight only to lose what you came for anyway?"

"Hmm, I pick the third option," Roman said. "Neo?"

The woman with Roman smirked slightly, and a sudden flash of light blinded Pyrrha. She lowered her stance and raised her shield in case they took advantage of her temporary blindness, but no attack came. Instead, once she could see again, Pyrrha was shocked to find that the control room was empty. _But I'm standing in the doorway,_ Pyrrha thought nervously to herself. _That's impossible. Where could they have gone?_

Her answer came seconds later. Behind her, she could hear the whirr of a bullhead motor firing up. Although she sprinted as fast as she could to the back of the superstructure toward the far deck of the ship, she was too late. She could only watch on as a rather angry Roman stepped into the back of the bullhead, closing its door behind him as he took off over the ocean beyond.

"Where's Roman?" asked Nora, who had caught up to her after finishing off the White Fang members.

"Gone," Pyrrha said. "He fled in a bullhead."

"Well, at least we didn't lose the Dust, right?" Nora pointed out.

"That's true," Pyrrha said with a smile, but she was still lamenting losing Roman that easily. _Just what are you up to, Torchwick?_

* * *

The following day, a bullhead descended onto Beacon Academy's airstrip. It carried only one passenger, a woman in her early twenties. She wore black boots that complemented her black leather jeans nicely. In addition to this, she wore a figure hugging red button-up shirt underneath a black jacket that complemented her amber eyes and black hair nicely. Although the trip had been quiet, it had given her time to think, and that was never a bad thing in her books.

"Okay, we're here," the pilot said to her. "I think Professor Goodwitch is waiting for you."

"Thank you," the woman said.

Pulling the door of the bullhead aside, she stepped out onto the grounds and took in the scenery. She noted the students mingling around the different buildings nearby, some of which stopped to ogle her, which was something she was used to. She noted that Beacon seemed to be on the far side of the academy, protected by the rest of the grounds. It was quite a sight, and she gave herself plenty of time to take it all in. However, that moment was soon interrupted as the woman she knew to be Glynda Goodwitch walked toward her.

"Good morning, Professor Goodwitch," the woman said with a slight bow of the head.

"Please, call me Glynda," the blonde replied. "I trust your trip here was comfortable enough?"

"It was, thank you," the woman replied.

"Good to hear," Glynda replied. "Now, Ozpin wants to see you in his office right away."

"Of course, take me to him."

"Oh, and welcome to Beacon Academy, Professor Fall."


	6. Professor Fall

_**Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – Professor Fall**

"Why did Ozpin call this assembly?" Jaune asked drowsily.

"I heard there was a new professor on campus," Ren replied.

"What? Who?"

It was the Monday following the incident with Roman Torchwick at the docks in Vale. Team JNPR had to give a detailed report to Ozpin about what had happened, and Pyrrha had noted that he seemed to take slightly more interest in the pink and brown haired woman than other details of their report. However, as Jaune had pointed out after they had finished, the trips to Ozpin's office were becoming a regular occurrence for them all. Pyrrha still wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing or not.

They were now seated in the amphitheatre along with the rest of the student of the academy. Jaune, who sat to her right, seemed to have had a restless few nights, but Pyrrha, for once, wasn't too worried about it. _It's normal for people to have a few restless nights every now and again,_ she thought to herself. _Just so long as it doesn't continue. Then there might be an issue._ To her left sat Nora, who seemed her usual restless self as she bounced in her seat, eager for the assembly to be over already. Beyond Nora sat Ren, who Pyrrha noted had his head in a book. _I wonder what he's reading up about…_

"Students, if I could have your attention please."

The amplified voice came from Glynda Goodwitch, who stood in the centre of the stage of the amphitheatre behind the microphone. She was her usual serious self, whilst behind her stood Headmaster Ozpin with his customary cup of coffee, which always seemed to have something in it to drink when Pyrrha saw him. However, what drew her attention was the woman standing beside Ozpin. Black hair to go with the red and black outfit, the woman seemed to be analysing the students with her piercing golden eyes. _Ren must have been right_ , Pyrrha realised.

"Before I hand you over to Headmaster Ozpin, there are some things that need to be addressed," Glynda said. "As many of you already know, the students from the other Kingdoms coming for the Vytal Festival later in the semester will be arriving this weekend. As the hosts of the Vytal Festival, it is imperative that you, the student body, are seen working with Vale in order to make the event a success. Remember, not only will you be fighting in the tournament, but there will be potential employees watching this festival and everything that comes with it. Put your best foot forward as a student of Beacon Academy and as a future Hunter or Huntress."

"Can you believe it's already been a quarter of the semester?" Nora whispered.

"Not really," Jaune admitted. "The past month has gone by so quickly."

"The next item to be discussed is that of our ball," Glynda continued. "A date for this has finally been reached, and it will be held in five weeks' time, one month before the opening of the Vytal Festival. To the third and fourth years in attendance, your team leaders will be in charge of putting together everything for this ball. I would recommend organising a meeting between everyone once this assembly is over."

"She can't help but try and have a hand in everything, can she?" Jaune said.

Pyrrha giggled slightly. "She just wants it to be a fantastic evening, I'm sure."

"And now I will hand you over to Headmaster Ozpin," Glynda said, indicating for the man to step forward.

"Thank you, Glynda," Ozpin said as he steadied himself on his cane, cup of coffee in the other hand. "Now, as I'm sure many of you have already guessed, we have had a new professor join our prestigious academy. Normally, we wouldn't have a professor join in the middle of the semester, but we believe that her knowledge is simply too valuable to prospective hunters and huntresses like yourselves. Therefore, I would like to introduce your newest Professor, Cinder Fall."

The woman known as Cinder walked to the front of the stage, curtseying slightly as she did so. To Pyrrha, though, there seemed to be something slightly off about the woman. _Maybe it's just because she's coming off as sultry,_ Pyrrha thought to herself, trying to rationalise why her mind was wary of the new professor. Glancing to Jaune, she noted that he, like many of the other guys within view, was blatantly staring at the women. _Yep, sultry._

"Miss Fall is a huntress hailing from the kingdom of Mistral," Ozpin continued. "As a clear expert on the subject of Dust, she will be teaching you about Dust, its history, how it can be manipulated and the theoretical side of Dust. In short, she will be your pre-imminent source of knowledge on the subject."

"You're too kind, Ozpin," Cinder said, her voice as smooth as silk.

"Your research speaks for itself, Miss Fall," Ozpin countered. "As a result of the nature of her work, you will occasionally have classes where you will be taught by both Miss Fall and either Professor Oobleck or Professor Port. I expect that you will treat her with the same level of respect that you have given the other professors here, despite her age and relative inexperience at the profession."

"She's not getting away that easily," Nora whispered, a wild, yet small, smirk on her face.

"Don't go picking a fight you can't win, Nora," Ren said. "She seems to be very confident in herself."

"That is true," Pyrrha said in agreement.

"Miss Fall, would you like to address the students?" Ozpin inquired.

"Thank you, Ozpin," Cinder said, taking her place behind the microphone. "Students of Beacon Academy, I know there will be those among you who will be wishing to test me as a professor during the coming days. Let me make this clear. Those who perform well in my classes will be rewarded. Those of you who fail to produce results, or elect to mess around during my classes, will be punished. I sincerely hope that it never has to come to that, so please try to take this to heart."

"What's she going to do if we muck around, make us fight her?" Nora wondered cynically.

"Anything's possible," Pyrrha said honestly.

"But, as Ozpin pointed out, I am new to being a professor," Cinder continued. "I have been researching Dust and everything about it for many years now, and I wish to impart this knowledge onto you, the next generation. After all, there may be some things that you can teach me as well. In short, I look forward to working with all of you over the coming weeks."

She bowed slightly and got a hearty applause for her speech, Pyrrha noting that most of the applause seemed to be coming from the males among the student body. Behind the new professor, Pyrrha could see that Ozpin and even Glynda seemed to be rather pleased with her words, almost as if they were in favour of her no nonsense approached to teaching. _Mind you, they did throw us off a cliff for initiation, so I'm not sure what that says about their character really._

"Thank you for the speech, Professor Fall," Glynda said as she reached the microphone once more. "Now, students, before I send you off to your first classes for the day, there is one more thing that I need to cover. As many of you are aware, a criminal by the name of Roman Torchwick has been escalating attacks on Dust stores across Vale over the past few weeks. However, there have been some among you who have been directly involved with a number of these attacks, and this has become a cause for concern amongst the teachers."

Murmurs began to run through the students. It was no secret that the students Glynda was referring to was Team JNPR and Team RWBY, and Pyrrha could feel the eyes of the other students fall upon them and Team RWBY, who were seated a couple rows in front of them. Although she was used to getting such attention for her previous achievements, it was obvious that the rest of her team were unsure how to handle the attention. Pyrrha found herself instead worrying about why Glynda was bringing up Roman's actions now, as he had been attacking stores for quite some time now.

"Although many of you are more than capable of protecting yourselves, Roman has proven to be a very dangerous and very skilled thief, even in hand to hand combat. Not only this, but it has recently come to our attention that he has recently allied himself with the White Fang and other highly dangerous individuals," Glynda said, clearly referring to the details given by Team JNPR after the incident at the docks. "While we appreciate that some of our students have helped defend Vale and her people from Torchwick in the past, it has been decided by the professors that a curfew will be put in place in order to prevent any of you running into Torchwick outside of our protection."

This caused chatter to erupt amongst the students, some, like Nora, even openly criticising the move. Pyrrha, however, could see the logic in placing a curfew on them. _I've run into Torchwick twice already since starting here at Beacon_ , she thought to herself. _Although I haven't fought him yet, both times I was involuntarily on high alert, even more so the second time when the weird girl was there. He may be even more dangerous than Glynda or Ozpin realise._

"Children, please," Glynda pleaded. "This is not up for debate. Until Roman Torchwick is apprehended, none of you are allowed to be in Vale past ten at night on any given day, including weekends. You will still have free reign of Beacon Academy, but you must return to the academy before that time if you do go to Vale."

"Well, that's not too bad," Nora huffed, returning to her seat along with a number of other previously angry students.

"Now that that's settled," Glynda said, sighing slightly. "This assembly is over, and your classes start in fifteen minutes. Also, please check your scrolls for your updated timetables, as they have been adjusted to accommodate Professor Fall's classes. That will be all."

The students erupted in chatter as Glynda dismissed them, a wide variety of topics being discussed from the very beginning. With the ball, the Vytal festival and the new curfew to talk about, Pyrrha found herself barely able to focus on the conversation that Jaune and Nora were having as they headed for the exit. _How is anyone able to hear themselves in all this chatter? This is crazy._

"So what class have we got, Jauney?" Nora asked.

"Uh… let me check," Jaune said, struggling with his scroll. "It says… oh, sweet! We have Professor Fall straight away. That's so cool!"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha sighed, rolling her eyes.

"What? What did I say?" Jaune asked in protest.

"Nothing. We'd better get going."

Their class was near where Professor Port held his lectures, in a different lecture hall just across the courtyard. Although she tried not to show it, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel bitter about the way Jaune was gushing over the new professor. _I don't understand the appeal, she's a teacher and way older_ , Pyrrha thought to herself. _I can't believe Jaune is just as terrible as the other male students. And what does that say about how he sees me? Does he think I'm not attractive or something? Wait, what am I thinking? Where did that come from?_

"You okay Pyrrha?" Jaune asked suddenly, a look of slight concern on his face.

"I'm fine, Jaune, thank you for asking," she replied with a smile.

"Okay then," Jaune said. "Ooh, I wonder if she's here yet."

His sentiment, it appeared, was shared by the majority of the male students who had pleasantly discovered that they were attending Professor Fall's class straight out of the assembly and had made their way very quickly to the lecture hall. As they made their way into the already quite full lecture hall, Pyrrha could see that the professor had somehow already made her way to the hall and had begun to write some notes on the board about the four main elements of Dust. _Is she really going to start off that basic?_ Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder. _Only a complete novice wouldn't be able to recognise the basics of Dust._

"Hey, Pyrrha, what's she drawing on the board?" Jaune whispered in her ear as they took a seat.

 _Right._ "Those are the four basic forms of Dust, Jaune," she explained quickly. "I'm sure she will go more in depth during the lecture."

"Of course she will, she probably knows all you can know about Dust," the blonde replied, eyes glued to the professor.

Pyrrha ignored his statement and got her notepad ready to take down anything of note during the lecture. As she looked around at the now almost full lecture hall, she could see that, like her, many of the girls in the different teams were irritated by the attention the men were giving the new professor. _Seriously, what is it about her that has them all glued to her?_ Pyrrha wondered in bemusement. _I mean, I get it. She's beautiful. But she's not that beautiful. Right?_

"Let's begin, shall we?" Professor Fall said in her alluring voice. "Could someone kindly shut the doors?"

Pyrrha watched as around a dozen men jumped at her request, much to the professor's amusement. She knows exactly what she's doing.

"Thank you," Fall said. "Now, in order to begin the lecture, can anyone tell me what Dust is? How about you, Miss Schnee, correct?"

"Yes, Professor," Weiss said. It appeared Team RWBY was also in attendance. "Dust is known as a naturally occurring, crystallized energy propellant triggered by –"

"Miss Schnee, I believe you have misunderstood my question," Cinder cut in.

"What? How?"

"We all know what Dust does, Miss Schnee, and we know that it comes in many different forms of crystal, but what actually is Dust?" Cinder asked. "Where does it come from? Why does it not work outside the atmosphere of Remnant? Why does it need to react with the Aura of Humans or Faunus to work in battle? Students, this is what a large majority of my classes will be made up of. The Theory of Dust, its uses, history and manipulation. Thank you for helping me with that, Miss Schnee."

"I… of course, Professor," Weiss said, before sulkily retreating into her notebook.

"The first thing I will cover in today's class is the history of Dust," Cinder continued. "Now, this is a question for those among you who are astute followers of Remnant history. Who here can tell me when Dust was first discovered?"

"We don't actually know," Ren answered quickly. "When both humans and Faunus first appeared on Remnant, they were more worried with fighting the Grimm than keeping records. We have no idea how long the earliest of our species were fighting the Grimm before discovering Dust."

"A good answer," Cinder acknowledged. "For people like me, though, this opens up incredible potential. Dust inherently interacts with the Aura of living beings in order to be fully utilised. So a question I pose to you is this. Did we discover Dust, or was it made for us?"

"What are you suggesting, teach?" Pyrrha heard Yang asked. "Dust is Dust. It's a tool dug from the ground. That's it?"

"How do you know this, Miss Xiao Long?" Cinder asked, evidently having done her homework on the students she would be teaching. "We discovered Dust by what we assume is chance. But was it really chance? Just as the Grimm seemed to have always existed and are drawn to certain emotions, who's to say that Dust isn't similar in these aspects? They are both part of the natural world, and both react to aspects of the Humans and Faunus."

"Are you saying that Dust was drawn to humans?" a student asked in disbelief.

Cinder smiled, something she didn't seem to be able to achieve without being alluring. "I am not suggesting anything. In truth, students, I am simply trying to get you to open your minds when it comes to parts of our world. When we don't have definitive answers, we cannot dismiss any possibility, no matter how outrageous or unlikely, because that might end up being the answer you were looking for. This world, despite its dangers, is full of infinite possibilities."

"So what's this got to do with Dust?" another student asked.

"Dust, too, is full of infinite possibilities," Cinder answered, before pulling out a pale blue crystal. "What I have here is an ice Dust crystal. Someone tell me how this ice crystal was made."

"Combining water and air," Ruby answered instantly.

"Correct," Cinder said. "This Dust was combined by finding a compatible balance between water Dust crystals and air Dust crystals and then combining them. Dust, just like this world, is full on possibilities. Just think of the sheer amount of different combinations that can be made with the Dust types that we know of. For all we know, there could be more base types that we haven't even discovered yet. But I digress. Dust, after all, is simply a tool for humans and Faunus to use in everything in their lives. It can be used for powering cars, cooking a meal, or firing a bullet. It can be woven into clothing, or infused directly into the body of a person. Its power… is limitless."

"But Dust is limited," Weiss countered. "As a finite resource, it's only a matter of time before we run out of it."

"So what will we do then, Miss Schnee?" Cinder asked her. "Is Dust the only energy source available to us?"

"Well, not exactly…"

"Like I said, students, in this class I will be covering everything to do with Dust," Cinder said. "The theory, the history, the uses, manipulation and successors. I do hope that you can see the different aspects that I have touched on during this session. Before we end, I have some homework for all of you."

Nora groaned beside Pyrrha, along with others. "It's probably not that bad," Ren assured her.

"I want you all to bring me a selection of Dust during the next lecture," Cinder said. "However, this Dust cannot be a base form, and you must be able to explain to me how the Dust you have brought in was made. What combinations were used to make it? How could different ratios have changed the final outcome? And for those you think that they won't do it, you will be given a deserving punishment should you fail in this task."

The siren sounded as she said this, almost too perfectly in time with the end of her lesson. It caused Pyrrha to pause at it, and she soon realised how masterfully she had manipulated the direction of the class _. Even though she is a professor, she had all of us under her thumb from the very start, in one way or another_ , Pyrrha realised. _She knew students like Weiss would be present to ask certain questions, and she knew exactly what kind of answers she would get from everybody._

She was scarcely able to believe it as she headed out the lecture door towards the next class. _What a shrewd woman… I wonder why a woman with her natural abilities chose to be a professor_. As she left the building, Pyrrha decided to leave her thoughts about the new professor with the lecture hall, and walked alongside Jaune toward their next class.

* * *

As the end of the day drew to a close, Cinder Fall brushed down the blackboard behind her and packed her notes into a file on the desk. Although not every lesson had gone as well as the first one, she still felt as if she had done a good job of introducing the students to the course that she had created. As she continued to back her belongings up, she grabbed the ice Dust crystal and looked at it for a moment, its pale blue colour reflecting off her glowing eyes.

"What more secrets do you hold?" she whispered to herself.

"Professor Fall?"

The voice surprised her as she had assumed she was alone, but she didn't let show as she turned to see who the newcomer was, also hiding the personal anger that she felt for being able to be crept up on in such a manner. Fortunately for her, she found herself face to face with Glynda Goodwitch, someone who had been surprisingly happy with the recommendations she had laid down for the curfew on the students. _Perhaps she, too, likes to be dominant and in control of her world. We might have more in common than I first thought._

"Miss Goodwitch, how can I help you?" she said smoothly.

"Ozpin wants to see you in his office," Glynda said. "And please, call me Glynda."

"Of course," Cinder said with a slight nod. "Call me Cinder. I'll finish packing my things and then we can be off."

"There's no rush," Glynda said. "I will wait for you outside."

Once Glynda was outside, Cinder allowed herself to sigh in relief. Although she had had nothing to hide, she couldn't allow the other teachers here to see her in any way other than calm and collected. The fact that Glynda had been able to come into the hall without her noticing troubled her greatly, but it was something she would simply have to work on over the coming weeks. Packing all her things into her satchel, she threw it over her shoulder and headed outside, where Glynda was patiently waiting, giant scroll in hand as always.

"So why does Ozpin want to see me?" Cinder inquired.

"He mentioned finding something interesting in the research notes you provided as proof of your expertise with Dust," Glynda answered. "He neglected to tell me more."

"I see," Cinder said. "Lead on then."

By the time they made it to Ozpin's office at the top of the tower, the sun was beginning to finally set behind the horizon. As they entered, the first thing that Cinder noted was the vast array of paper strewn out on Ozpin's desk, no doubt the copies of her work she had provided a few weeks back to highlight her knowledge of Dust. As they entered, the Headmaster made no move to welcome them, instead keeping his eyes on the paper in front of him, sipping slowly from a cup of coffee to his right.

"Headmaster Ozpin," Cinder said, bowing slightly. "I believe you wished to see me."

"I did," the man replied. "When you applied for a position at my academy three weeks ago, you provided these notes to us. As I have done deeper readings of your work, I've noticed that you seem to be getting quite theoretical with potential Dust applications and combinations."

"I have, yes," Cinder replied. "One must theorize if they are to make new discoveries."

"I agree," Ozpin admitted. "However, I called you here because of this selection of sketches and notes here. It mentions the Four Maidens."

On the inside, Cinder prepared for the worst. "Yes, I did."

"You believe they exist?"

"There is the potential that they do," Cinder answered. "Legends all have to come from somewhere, after all."

"Do you believe that this legend is tied to Dust in some way?" Ozpin inquired.

"I think it is a possibility," Cinder replied after a moment's pause. "As you can see in my works, I have theorized that the Maidens gained their power through a similar ritual as bonding Dust to your own body. Pure speculation, though."

"I see," Ozpin said, eyes still on his work. "Thank you, Cinder. That will be all."

"Of course," she said. "I'll be off then."

As the elevator closed behind the woman, Glynda turned worriedly toward Ozpin, who had finally looked up from the papers and was now scratching his chin, deep in thought. To Glynda, who had known the man for a very long time, she still had no idea what it meant, and she still couldn't tell what the man was thinking. It was something that she wished she was able to do herself.

"What do you think? Does she know?" Glynda asked worriedly.

"She put the details about the Maidens in on purpose," Ozpin said. "That much is evident. As to why she did that, I cannot be certain."

"Do you think she's found one?"

"I don't think so."

"I'm still troubled by the fact that she applied here of all places," Glynda said cautiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Vacuo and Atlas are far more preferable candidates for employment for a woman with her knowledge and expertise," Glynda answered. "Surely she would've applied there instead. So why apply here? And why now?"

"I do not know," Ozpin admitted. "She is suspicious, but we currently have no proof of her being worthy of our suspicions."

"So what do we do?" Glynda asked.

"We watch her," Ozpin said, placing his cup on the table. "She's a wild card. If she's an ally, then we approach her."

"And if she's an enemy?"

Ozpin looked her in the eye. "Then it is time to give Qrow a call."


	7. The Past and Present

Hey guys! So as a few people pointed out in PM's after I uploaded my last chapter, yes the timeline in this fic is different to the canon. I personally found the timeline of the first three volumes to be a bit all over the place, so I've made it as coherent as I can. And for those who are saying that Jaune won't be as trained by the time to Vytal FEstival comes around, bear in mind that he didn't start training with Pyrrha in canon until the end of Volume One, which was the end of the first semester. This meant he had one semester to train, and that is the same in this fic, having been training with her since the beginning. Anyway, now that that is all cleared up, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

 _ **Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – The Past and Present**

As Roman Torchwick pushed open a pair of giant metal doors and took in the scene before him, he couldn't help but wonder what on earth his boss had been thinking recruiting the White Fang. _These animals have absolutely no idea how to handle this stuff, do they?_ Looking around the bustling warehouse, he saw at least three of the White Fang carrying powdered Dust in open containers, and others were piling crystals into their hands seemingly without considering the fact that they might drop and shatter them. _Do these idiots have no idea how volatile this stuff is?  
_ "And you!" Roman bellowed, finishing his thoughts aloud as he pointed at a White Fang grunt lifting three crates of Dust at once. "Just what in the name of Remnant do you think you are doing?"

"Uh… carrying Dust?" the Faunus replied innocently.

"Drop one of those and there's a good chance you'll blow yourself to smithereens," Roman snapped. "Now put them down and carry one at a time instead of showing off."

"Yes, sir."

 _Stupid mutt,_ Roman thought to himself as he headed for his office, cane by his side. As he shut the door behind him, he let out a sigh and massaged his temples before heading to the coffee machine. As he was pouring the liquid into a mug, he noticed that there was a woman sitting on the couch opposite his office chair and desk, her brown and pink hair curling down her miniscule body.

"Neo, what did I tell you about teleporting into my office unannounced?" Roman said.

The woman shrugged her shoulders harmlessly, but her eyes and smirk said otherwise.

"What do you want anyway?" Roman asked her, taking a sip from his coffee mug. "I thought the boss wanted you to help her on something."

Neo gave him a slight thumbs up.

"Finished already, huh?" Roman sighed. "So what is it now, then? Still wanting to go after that redhead, are we?"

The woman on the couch opposite him began to nod enthusiastically, a savage smile growing across her face.

"Neo, no," Roman said curtly. "We can't have Beacon students being killed off with the Vytal Festival coming up. That's just bad for business, you know?"

Neo squirmed in her seat, angered by Roman's refusal.

"You will get your chance, I promise," Roman said, much to Neo's delight. "However, you have to be patient. I don't care how good of a fighter you are, you know just as well as I do not to cross the boss."

A knock came at the door. "What?" Roman shouted.

"Pardon the intrusion, sir, but I've been sent here by the others," a member of the White Fang said, stepping into the office.

"Well I didn't hear an explosion, so that's a good sign…" Roman muttered to himself. "What is it then, kiddo? Can't you see I'm a busy man?"

"Some of the men are wondering why a portion of the Dust is being loaded onto outbound ships, sir," the Faunus said meekly.

Roman rose from his desk slowly and walked over to the Faunus, who lowered his head nervously as Roman approached. "Let me ask you something, kid," Roman said, throwing his left arm around the Faunus' shoulders. "Are you _new_ to this line of business?

"No, sir," the White Fang member replied fearfully, drops of sweat beginning to form underneath his mask. "I've been with the White Fang for two years now, sir."

"Right, well obviously you and your buddies still haven't learned a valuable lesson," Roman whispered, now eye-balling the man through his mask. "You're a grunt. Hired muscle. You do what we say, when we say. And you don't ever, if you value your own life, _ever_ ask questions about the actions of your superiors. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," the man said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Consider that bit of information a gift," Roman said with a smile.

"Of course, sir."

"Good," Roman said, his expression changing to serious in an instant. "Now get lost."

Slamming the door in the face of the horrified Faunus, Roman closed his eyes and began rubbing his right temple once more in frustration. _I still cannot believe these imbeciles are a step up from Junior's men…_ Walking back to his desk, he noted that, in the time he had dealt with the Faunus, he had missed a call on his scroll. _She'll live,_ he thought to himself as he got rid of the notification.

"What's so funny?" he asked Neo, aware of the broad smile on her face.

Neo simple pointed at the door.

"Oh, you enjoyed that little show, did you?" Roman asked, getting a nod from the woman. "You just love watching people squirm, don't you?"

As Neo nodded enthusiastically, Roman couldn't help but wonder what on earth he had gotten himself into. _My boss and her friends could kill me at a moment's notice, my own partner is a sadistic midget, and my henchmen are a bunch of half-breeds who have no idea how to handle Dust nor when to keep their traps shut._ He sighed to himself once more.

 _Roman, Roman, Roman. Just what have you gotten yourself into?_

* * *

Pyrrha was still trying to wrap her head around how Professor Bartholomew Oobleck was able to talk so fast. She may have had his classes for a month now, but there were still occasions where her mind would miss a word or two in a sentence, and it had made it rather difficult for her to properly take notes during his class. _Just what is in that coffee of his?_ she thought, before sighing softly. It was a thought she found herself having most history lectures, and one that she had learnt to ignore.

"Now, class, I have some exciting news!" Oobleck announced, seemingly cutting himself off. "This afternoon, this entire class will be heading to an excavation site south-east of the city believed to have been a part of an old civilisation that was here long before us."

"What for, Prof?" Yang asked, somehow having kept up with that spiel.

"It's Doctor, Miss Xiao Long, but still an excellent question!" Oobleck replied. "As you are aware, you have a assignment due at the end of the semester about the impact the Grimm have had on expansion cities and other towns and the like. Since it is believed that these ruins used to be an example of such an expansion, we will be taking a tour of what has been dug out so far to give you a better understanding of how the Grimm have come into conflict with humans across the centuries. It's going to be truly fascinating stuff, I assure you."

"How did you even get us access to an archaeological site, Professor?" Weiss asked.

"That would have been me, Miss Schnee."

The class turned to greet the newcomer, who turned out to be none other than Professor Fall. Wearing a simple red singlet and brown cargo pants, Pyrrha automatically assumed that she, too, would be coming on the trip to the archaeological site. _I guess it does kind of make sense, since she has mentioned in her lectures about visiting old ruins to further her knowledge of Dust before…_

"Oh, Professor Fall I didn't hear you come in!" Oobleck exclaimed, slightly startled at her sudden appearance.

"I've been here for a while listening to your lecture, Bartholomew," Fall replied softly. "You really do have an intricate knowledge of history, don't you?"

"Ah, well, that is to say that, uh…" Oobleck trailed off, loosening his already unkempt tie a little.

 _The teachers as well?_ "How did you get access to the site then, Professor Fall?" Weiss asked, redirecting her question and interrupting Pyrrha's thoughts.

"I have worked with the teams there in the past," Professor Fall explained as she made her way to the front of the class, beside Oobleck. "When I requested some time with my students on the side, they were more than happy to oblige."

"It's an excellent opportunity for you all," Oobleck said. "Now, the airbuses will leave at two-thirty this afternoon. Please come fully equipped for battle and do not be late or else you will be left behind. Dismissed!"

The classroom burst into chatter as Oobleck uttered his last word, and Pyrrha joined in the crowd as they began to move toward the exit. However, much to her surprise, it seemed Ren more so than Nora was in a very happy mood. _Did they decide to suddenly switch personalities or something?_ she couldn't help but wonder playfully as she looked at them.

"Urgh, I can't believe we have to go look at _ruins,_ " Nora complained as they headed out. "They're so… _boring._ "

"Just try not to destroy them this time, okay Nora?" Jaune asked her.  
"What are you going on about?" the ginger demanded.

"Have you forgotten already?" Jaune said, disbelieving. "You know, the whole 'destroy an ancient bridge to launch a helpless blonde into the air' thing that happened during initiation? No?"

"Ohhhhh," Nora said, realisation dawning on her face. "Hey, do you think they'll ask me to blow down some walls while we are there?"

"I don't think it's that kind of trip we're going on," Ren cut in. "I'm excited to see this place though. I've read about it recently, supposed to be some fascinating stuff there."

"Like what?" Jaune asked curiously.

"Well, there's a theory that this particular town tried to enslave the Grimm," Ren said. "They say this because there's no evidence of animal remains amongst the ruins, something you'd often see in places like this."

"So what, you think they used the Grimm for aiding in farming and transport of something?" Jaune wondered.

"That doesn't sound right to me," Pyrrha contributed. "Grimm are natural born hunters and killers of humans. They would be too agitated and aggressive to even be considered for such a thing."

"I know," Ren admitted. "But it's not something that can be ruled out. That's why it fascinates me."

"Pfft, you're such a nerd," Nora muttered, before they all headed off to their next class.

* * *

By the time Team JNPR arrived at the airstrip most of the other teams were already there. Pyrrha noted that there were a few other Professors present with Fall and Oobleck, no doubt to keep track of the sheer number of students going on the trip. Additionally, it seemed that none of them had changed out of their teaching apparel, meaning that they either fought in that equipment or they were not expecting a fight at all. _I mean, I know they had us retrieve our equipment in case of Grimm stumbling upon the area, but shouldn't they also be preparing for it?_ she wondered, before realising just how many students there were. _Actually, now that I think about it, over one hundred hunters and huntresses in training should be enough to handle the Grimm._

As they entered one of the three airbuses that was to take them to the archaeological site, the team managed to get split up in the fight for decent seats. Because of this, Pyrrha ended up sitting next to Nora whilst Jaune and Ren ended up a couple rows behind them. At first, she had assumed that this was simply a result of misfortune that the team had been separated, however, one quick look at the expression on Nora's face told her otherwise. _Okay, what is she planning?_

"Sooooooooo…" Nora said expectantly as they took off, hands tapping on the edge of her seat.

"Yes, Nora?" Pyrrha said, playing the fool to her behaviour.

"You and Jaune, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, come _on_ , what do you take me for?" Nora said, feigning disgust. "You know what I'm talking about."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Oh, please. Late nights on the roof every night, alone, with no one around…"

"Nora, you know it's not like that…"

"So when's it gonna be official, huh?

"Nora, there's nothing going on like that," Pyrrha protested, a hint of anger in her voice. "Besides, you know he's interested in Weiss, has been since the first day."

"Pyrrha."

"What."

"You're blushing."

"I am not!" she whispered in protest.

 _I can't believe I'm blushing at this,_ Pyrrha thought to herself as Nora eyeballed her. _I mean, Jaune's a good friend and all, the first one I really had here at Beacon, but it's nothing like that at all. Right?_ She knew that Nora kind of had a point. They _had_ been spending a lot of time together, but that wasn't because she had feelings for him, it was because she wanted to help him become a better fighter. Why couldn't she understand that you could be around someone a lot without gaining feelings for them? _Wait a second…_

"There's a very good reason for the two of us spending so much time together," Pyrrha said finally.

"Oh really? And what reason is that?" Nora asked, her curiosity piqued by Pyrrha's words.

"Well, both Jaune and I knew from the start that you and Ren were really close. So we thought that, you know…"

"Huh? Hey wait a minute, it's not like that!" Nora exclaimed.

"Spending all that time together in the dorms, no one else around to disturb you…"

"Don't go turning this around on me, I'm interrogating you here!"

"But you're in the same boat as me," Pyrrha pointed out.

"I…" Nora huffed in anger at her plan being thwarted. "This isn't over, Nikos."

Satisfied that Nora wouldn't try and question her for the remainder of the trip, Pyrrha tried to relax and enjoy the trip in the airbus, but Nora's words played on her mind far more than she would've liked. _Do people really think that?_ she couldn't help but wonder to herself. In truth, she simply had had no idea that her training Jaune would come across in such a manner, as her intentions had been purely to help train him. _Although both Nora and Ren have become good friends with me, even Team RWBY to an extent, Jaune really was the first person here to treat me, well, like a_ person. _Am I really getting attracted to that?_ She tried to laugh away the thought, but it kept nagging away at her, like an itch she couldn't quite scratch. _Jaune and I … what an unlikely pair, but maybe it coul –_ She froze suddenly, unable to comprehend that the thought had crossed her mind. _Dammit Nora, just what have you done?_

"Ooh, that looks so pretty!" Nora said, the previous conversation forgotten as her eyes were glued to the window of the airbus as they glided over the forest below.

Meanwhile, in the seats behind Pyrrha and Nora, Ren and Jaune were sitting beside each other, the silence between them very awkward for Jaune. Ren was looking at some articles to do with the ruins on his scroll, but all he could do was shuffle awkwardly in his seat, wondering what he was supposed to say. _If Nora or Pyrrha were here, I could bounce something off of them… maybe I can talk to him more about the ruins? He seemed excited about them earlier._ Ren, however, beat him to the punch.

"So, those redheads huh?" Ren asked him with a completely neutral expression.

Jaune simply stared at him blankly, unable to comprehend the question. "Uh… what?"

* * *

The ruins themselves turned out to be a lot better preserved than Pyrrha had expected. It was clear as they left the airbuses that some of the structures were practically one strong gust away from collapsing, but others looked like they could've been built yesterday, had they still been using stone to construct buildings. As Professor Fall spoke with the men in charge, who seemed all too happy about seeing her, Pyrrha and Nora were reunited with Ren and Jaune on solid ground, the latter of which seemed very flustered for some reason.

"Is everything alright Jaune?" Pyrrha asked him, trying to remain unfazed by Nora's words earlier.

"Yep, never better!" Jaune said in a jittery voice, although he seemed to be avoiding her gaze. _What's gotten into him I wonder…_ Pyrrha thought as she noticed Ren nodding to Nora as if to say 'mission accomplished'.

"Your attention please students!" Professor Oobleck shouted to the mass of bodies before him, Professor Fall having joined him just before. "Professor Fall has just informed me that we have been given nearly full access to the ruins, however you will notice over by the hill that there is a building built into the hill itself. That part of the ruins is still under excavation, and so some of the newer sections will be unavailable to us, and so I expect you to all respect this great opportunity that you've been given!"

"Could we ask the people here about what they've learned?" asked one of the students.

"An excellent suggestion!" Oobleck replied. "Remember the focus of your assignments and then ask away! I'm sure the men and women here would be more than happy to help you out to the best of their abilities. Oh, and one more thing! This is a request straight from Headmaster Ozpin, so pay close attention!"

"It's not like you make it easy to ignore you…" Nora muttered.

"Teamwork is an essential part of your training as hunters and huntresses," Oobleck continued. "However, knowing how to work with others outside of your teams can also be essential when you are out in the field. Therefore, you are each to find another team and partner up with a member from the other team. Now get out there and study those ruins!"

"RWBY?" Jaune offered at once.

The rest of them nodded. "RWBY."

The team in question, it seemed, had also had the same idea. After a quick discussion, the partners were decided. Blake was to go with Ren, Nora with Yang, Jaune with Ruby and Pyrrha with Weiss. As they parted ways, Weiss suggested they headed for the temple and Pyrrha had agreed immediately, having noted that Professor Fall had headed in that direction once Oobleck had finished talking. _She's an expert on Dust and seems to have an adept grasp on history,_ Pyrrha reasoned. _She probably has realised there is something significant about those ruins._ Although it was clear that the colour had faded from the stone over time, it seemed far more decorative than the rest of the buildings in the site. _A shrine of some sorts perhaps?_

"So, Pyrrha, we haven't had much chance to properly talk since initiation," Weiss said, diplomatic as ever. "Have you settled in to Beacon easily enough?"

"I have," she replied. "Jaune, Ren and Nora have made me feel very welcome and never seemed bother by who I am. I mean, you saw Jaune in the lockers before initiation."

"I did," Weiss nodded. "He still hasn't stopped trying to ask me out you know."

"I'm well aware," Pyrrha replied, remembering the couple of times she had comforted him after yet another rejection.

"You know, he even tried to ask me to the ball earlier today," Weiss said in an aggravated manner. "Like, seriously, can't the guy just take a hint?"

"It would seem not, unfortunately," Pyrrha said, hiding her growing frustration.

 _Why am I getting so worked up over this?_ Pyrrha thought to herself. _I don't even know what I'm feeling right now, but all I want to do is change the topic… what on Remnant has happened to me? Where did all this come from?_

"Besides, I'm sure that someone much for fitting as my partner for the ball will come along with the students from the other kingdoms," Weiss huffed. "Same for you, I expect."

"For me?" Pyrrha asked, confused.

"Of course," Weiss said. "I'm sure everyone's already tried to get you to go with you to the ball, except maybe Jaune. But I have a piece of advice for you, Pyrrha. Wait until the new students come. I'm sure that someone amongst them will make a perfect partner at the ball."

"Well, actually…" Pyrrha said awkwardly.

"What, don't tell me no one has asked you to the ball yet?" Weiss gasped.

 _Was it that obvious?_ "That would be correct, Weiss," Pyrrha admitted. "I guess because of my reputation people are intimidated by me."

"What utter nonsense," Weiss exclaimed. "Pyrrha, we must…"

"Yes, Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, confused as to why the girl had stop mid-sentence.

"Pyrrha Nikos, I have a proposition," Weiss said.

"What is it?"

"I will _pay_ you to ask Jaune to the ball," Weiss pleaded. "Anything. Name your price."

She uttered a single giggle involuntarily. "Weiss, with all due respect, I'm going to have to decline," Pyrrha replied. "I'm not going to ask Jaune to the ball. It'll hurt his pride too much."

"Pyrrha, _please_ , I'm begging you here, and a Schnee _never_ begs."

"My answer is still no, Weiss, I'm sorry."

"Dammit," Weiss muttered. "Just, consider it, okay?"

In truth, Pyrrha was quite open to the idea, but she knew that Jaune probably wouldn't stand for the idea of her asking him to the ball, not just because of his infatuation with Weiss but because of his more traditional upbringing. _However, out of everyone that I've met so far during my time here, he's probably the only one I'd go with,_ she thought to herself. _I mean, I could always ask him and then say we would just be there as partners, friends. No that would just be weird… I can't risk it._ As much as she was looking forward to the ball, she didn't like the prospect of going alone and seeing all the couples there having fun with someone else. _I mean, if he asked me… that's not wrong to think, right?_

As the pair walked through the entrance to the shrine or temple of sorts, the first thing that Pyrrha noted was the incredibly detailed drawing on the far wall, floodlights having been set up to illuminate the long corridor. As far as she could tell, the wall seemed completely interrupted by pillars or anything else for that matter, continuing all the way down to the area that was currently off-limits to them due to it still being under excavation.

"What kind of building is this?" Weiss wondered aloud, echoing Pyrrha's thoughts.

"This is the Hall of Stories, dear students."

Pyrrha and Weiss turned to their right to see Professor Fall standing beside an elderly man, one that Pyrrha presumed knew the woman from earlier expeditions. For the first time since they had left Beacon, Pyrrha noticed the weaponry that the Professor has strapped across her back. _Two swords and a quiver full of arrows… perhaps the swords merge into a bow?_

"Kieran, this is Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee," Cinder said, introducing the two. "This is Kieran Osenwald, head of the archaeological division of the Vale Museum."

"A pleasure to meet to two of you," Kieran said in a voice that exhibited his age, bowing slightly.

"You have questions about this place I presume?" Cinder asked them, her eyes gazing upon them with a fierce intensity.

"We do, Professor," Pyrrha answered.

"Then I shall leave you in Kieran's hands," Cinder said, before turning to the old man. "You mentioned that they were just down the end of the hall, correct?"

"That's right, Cinder," Kieran said, nodding. "I think Hans is with them at the moment. I'm sure he will be able to talk you through it all."

"Thank you," Cinder said, bowing her head slightly. "Students."

"She's great, isn't she?" Kieran said as the three of them watched her head toward the far end of the hall. "Now, what can I help you kids with?"

"We'd like to know about this place, sir," Weiss said.

"Sir?" Kieran said, chuckling. "Please, there's no need for such formalities here. Just call me Kieran."

"Of course, Kieran," Pyrrha said. "So, the wall? What is it?"

"Ah, yes, the wall," Kieran said as the three of them walked to the far left of the wall. "Cinder was quite correct in calling it the Hall of Stories," Kieran said. "Some of the older villagers from a time long before the Great War would keep these Halls in order to preserve the history of their town. Since this was before any sort of technology, they found the most efficient way of preserving knowledge was to carve it into stone."

"This village must have been populated hundreds of years ago, at least," Weiss realised.

"Possibly more," Kieran confirmed. "We've put a lot of effort into preserving the Hall so that we can learn as much as we can about the village."

"Anything about the people utilizing the Grimm as tools?" Pyrrha asked, recalling Ren's words from earlier.

"Heard of that rumour, have you?" Kieran asked, throwing a curious eye her way. "Unfortunately, it seemed that this particular village seemed very adamant about cremating their animals. We believe it could've been to prevent them from turning into Grimm, as that was an old belief about the beasts, but we can't be certain.

As Pyrrha looked at the carvings on the wall, she could make out some of the details that Kieran had been talking about. Glancing ahead for reference, she could see that there was a depiction of the cremation of animal remains around every five or six metres, indicating something of a cycle in the way that they villagers burned the animal's remains.

"We've deduced that they burned the remains every year or so, judging by other events portrayed in the carvings, such as the seasons in relation to farming," Kieran explained, catching the direction of Pyrrha's gaze upon the wall.

"Anything else related to the Grimm?" Weiss asked in attempt to give the wall relevance to their project.

"There have been a few other instances throughout the village's history," Kieran replied, walking along the wall and pointing out occasional sections depicting assaults by the Grimm. "They seemed to be random at first, but as we continue onward…"

Pyrrha begun to notice a pattern. "They began attacking every year toward the end of the harvest season," she realised. "How could they have known…?"

"It's possible that the villagers got began to get anxious about the attacks and got especially wary around harvest season," Kieran offered. "Not as much was known about the Grimm this early on in Remnant history. It's possible they didn't know that their emotions were drawing the Grimm to them during these times."

"To think, living in a world where you had no idea about the things trying to constantly kill you," Weiss whispered. "It's a miracle that we survived at all."

"Dust was what saved us," Kieran reminded her. "Since this village has so far shown no evidence of utilising it, it seems only natural that they eventually died out."

"Do you know what brought an end to the village?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, we believe we are actually getting close to the end of this Hall of Stories, actually," Kieran answered. "We've predicted that…"

The ground began to rumble under their feet, before possibly the loudest noise Pyrrha had ever heard pierced her ears as a Death Stalker burst through the far end of the Hall of Stories where Professor Fall had walked off to earlier. Looking at each other for but a moment, Weiss and Pyrrha charged forward just as the workers Professor Fall had been talking to fled in the opposite direction, the screech of the Death Stalker causing them to cry out in fear. Racing to join Cinder, Pyrrha noted that the professor already had her white and gold blades drawn and at the ready.

"Where did it come from?" Weiss asked belatedly as the beast seemed to try and analyse them.

"I don't know," Cinder replied. "It might have been lying dormant behind the wall before being awoken by the excavations, but it seems very young…"

 _The one Jaune and I found was quite old…_ "It's no use trying to attack it head on," Pyrrha said. "We've gotta try and drop the stinger on its head."

Cinder gave a small smirk. "There's more than one way to kill a Death Stalker. Leave this one to me, children," she said, clicking her blades together to form a bow just as Pyrrha had hypothesised.

"Are you sure, Professor?" Weiss asked.  
"I'm sure. Stand back."

Taking a few steps back but keeping her defensive pose, Pyrrha watched as Cinder advanced. Taking three arrows from her sheath, her clothes suddenly burst into flame, the fire wrapping around the tips of the arrows and solidifying. _Of course she has Dust weaved into the clothes she wears to class,_ Pyrrha thought as the arrows flew and they each hit their target, burying themselves into the three biggest eyes on the Death Stalker's right hand side. The beast howled in pain as the arrows pierced the soft tissue of its eyes, causing it to trash about and bash into more of the walls of the hall, sending debris flying everywhere, some of which Pyrrha had to deflect with her shield.

Cinder clicked her fingers, and then suddenly the tips of the arrows exploded _inside_ the head of the Death Stalker, sending bits of its natural armour everywhere as the beast reeled back in anguish as a clear gap in its armour had now been formed in its head, painting a huge target for the archer that face it. _Unbelievable,_ Pyrrha thought to herself. _In initiation, it seemed to take forever to kill one of these things, and yet…_

"Weiss, freeze its pincers in place," Cinder commanded.

"Yes, Professor!" Weiss said obediently.

Rotating the switch on Myrtenaster, Weiss drove it into the ground with a grunt, sending two pillars of ice in the direction of the Death Stalker, splitting around Cinder as it pinned the two giant pincers on either side of the beast in place. With it unable to advance forward and its stinger unable to reach them, the beast was completely at the mercy of Cinder's arrows. Pyrrha noted the smug smile that seemed to grow over the Professor's face as she let another flaming arrow fly, this one wrapped in a solid blue flame far more intense than the ones before it. As she let it fly, the Death Stalker was helpless to defend itself, the arrow burying deep within its head before exploding, shattering the body into three pieces; the two pincers and the body itself, all of which soon disintegrated.

"You beat a Death Stalker with only four arrows…" Weiss whispered, she too recalling the battle during initiation.

"Dust can be an incredibly efficient weapon, children," the professor said as she split the weapons apart and sheathed them. "Do well to remember this."

"Oh, no, not the hall…" came the voice of Kieran Osenwald, who had been watching from a distance.

"I am sorry," Cinder said, placing a hand on the old man's shoulder. "There's nothing we could do. The final years of the village have unfortunately been lost."

"And we were so close…" Kieran murmured, sadness in his eyes. "We will have to see what we can recover."

"Do your best," Cinder said, before turning to Pyrrha and Weiss. "We should get going. I suspect you will find more information for your assignment outside of this hall, and I'm sure Bartholomew will want to know what the rumbling was all about."

"Of course, Professor, lead the way," Weiss said.

But as Professor Fall led them back towards the sunlight, Pyrrha was much more curious about the woman than before. _She possesses power likely to rival any of the other Professors at Beacon, including Ozpin and Glynda. How could a woman as young as her have such knowledge? Was she a prodigy like me?_ As her brain began to create more and more questions, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Cinder continued on and re-joined the others.


	8. Welcome to Beacon

Hey guys, so I apologise for the long break between chapters. I didn't originally intend for this to be the case, but between the new year, university starting again and the fact that I wanted to focus on my Dimension Divided fic and my novel, I got caught up in what I was doing and this fic kind of got put to the side for a time. However, please be rest assured that I will continue to write this fic no matter how wide the gap is between the chapters. Anyway, now that that's out the way, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 ** _Beta Reader/RWBY Expert - Catastrophic Bacon_**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 – Welcome to Beacon**

"And that is how Dust can be used in combination with electricity to eliminate an Ursa Major with one strike."

It was Friday afternoon, and Pyrrha was seated in a lecture from Professor Fall along with the rest of Team JNPR. She had been trying her best to keep up with what Professor Fall had been saying, but she too was as distracted as seemingly everyone else in the room. _It's the last class of the day, and then besides another assembly it's the weekend,_ she thought to herself, relieved that the week was drawing to a close. _Not only that, but the students from the other three Academies are going to be coming to Vale over the weekend. I can only feel for the position the professor is in at the moment…_

"Before we finish, there is something else I wish to show you," Cinder said, pressing a few buttons on her scroll. "Many of you present here were also on the trip to the ruins earlier during the week. Some of you will also remember Kieran Osenwald, the head of the operation. Yesterday, he sent me an update on the situation regarding the Hall of Stories, since many of you were also interested in the aftermath of the unfortunate situation."

The projector above her desk flickered on, the device linked to the scroll in her hand. As she dimmed the lights, a projection of a video appeared on top of the whiteboard for the entire lecture hall to easily see. Although she could see that Kieran was taking up a lot of the frame, it seemed to Pyrrha that work had not slowed down at all since they were last there. However, she could also see a hint of sadness in the old man's eyes as he began to speak.

"Hello Cinder, students," Kieran began, coughing slightly. "First of all, I'd like to thank you all once again for taking an interest in the work we are doing here. Despite the unfortunate incident with the Grimm, your trip put a smile on many of the men and women hard at work here. So thank you again for that."

"This isn't going to be good news, is it?" Ren whispered in realisation.

"However, I'm sure many of you curious about the final fate of the Hall of Stories," Kieran continued, scratching the side of his head. "Regrettably, we've been unable to restore what the Death Stalker destroyed. Your deputy, Miss Goodwitch, even offered her assistance in the matter, but we estimate that about half of the wall that was destroyed has been completely lost, either crumbled to nothing or simply gone. So unfortunately, we've been unable to restore it."

"Miss Goodwitch offered to help?" Pyrrha whispered. "How kind of her."

"She must have been regretting what had happened while we were there," Ren offered.

"Anyway, that's the fate of the Hall of Stories," Kieran finished. "It is a shame for historians, but it's just something we will never know. Anyway, study hard and keep up the good work kids! Thank you again for coming!"

As the old man waved to the camera, the video finished and Cinder cut the feed from her scroll, turning the lights back up as she did so. She made to speak, but the bell for the end of the class cut her off, resulted in a stampede of boots as many of the students were eager to make it to the assembly and the end of the day. Cinder, however, still tried her best to get in the last word.

"Remember that you have a test of Dust Application in Business coming up next week!" she shouted over the noise. "Any students who fail will answer to me personally, so don't forget to study!"

"Does she never get tired of making those threats?" Nora muttered as they walked out of the lecture hall.

"I think she almost _enjoys_ them," Jaune commented. "She sure knows how to follow through on them…"

Although Pyrrha knew Jaune had been struggling with Professor Fall's classes, this was the first she had heard of him actually having been on the receiving end of her threats towards failure. _Jaune, you have to talk to us if you're finding some of the classes to be difficult,_ she thought to herself. _Especially with Ozpin's demands hanging over your head… you really can't afford this._ Nora and Ren, it seemed, had reached the same conclusion, but Jaune simply waved off their concerns with a slight smile.

"I'll be fine guys, don't worry," he said. "Besides, I managed to convince Weiss yesterday to tutor me on Dust since she's the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"Wait, Weiss?" Nora asked, bemused. "How did you manage to pull that one off?"

"I, well…" Jaune trailed off, seemingly reluctant to share.

"I am intrigued also," Ren contributed.

"Weiss agreed to tutor me if I stopped trying to ask her out or to the dance," Jaune said with a sigh. "So, yeah, that's a thing."

 _So she found a way after all._ "Don't worry about it, Jaune," Pyrrha comforted him. "I'm sure you will be fine."

"That's true. But I mean, there's nothing to say that she won't ask me!" Jaune said hopefully.

The rest of the team just stared at him in disbelief. "You've _got_ to be joking," Nora said.

With Jaune continuing to defend his words, the quartet soon found themselves near the entrance to the amphitheatre. _Speaking of the heiress…_ It appeared that Team RWBY had arrived at the amphitheatre before them, as Weiss was currently waiting patiently in front of the entrance. As her eyes fell upon them she seemed to spring to life, and it was apparent to Pyrrha that she must have been waiting for them.

"Weiss, what brings you here?" Jaune asked as she joined their group.

"The assembly?" Weiss replied, perplexed, with Jaune quickly realising what an idiotic question that had been. "Anyway, if I may, I would like to speak to Pyrrha for a moment."

"Of course," Pyrrha answered. "Are the rest of the team already here?"

"They are inside, yes."

"We will go and find them then," Ren said, picking up on the fact that Weiss wanted to speak with Pyrrha alone.

"Thank you, Ren."

Pyrrha waited until the rest of the team was gone before turning back to Weiss. "What did you wish to talk about?" she asked her.

"I am retracting the offer I made to you during our trip earlier this week," Weiss said diplomatically. "Since I have managed to deal with the issue in another manner, the offer no longer exists."

"I know, Weiss," Pyrrha replied, slightly amused by how formal the girl was being. "Jaune mentioned just earlier that he managed to get your help with Professor Fall's classes yesterday."

"Wha…? Hey, I made him the offer!" Weiss exclaimed. "When I heard he was struggling I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get him off my back, so I did!"

"By spending more time with him than you would have otherwise?" Pyrrha asked her.

"Look, I don't hate the guy, alright?" Weiss huffed. "I'm just not interested in him in that way. Besides, that wasn't the point of this discussion."

"Consider the offer forgotten, Weiss," Pyrrha said reassuringly. "Should we head into the amphitheatre then? I think it's about to start."

"Of course," Weiss said in agreement. "After you, Pyrrha."

It took them a little while to find their respective teams, but fortunately they were chatting away together when Pyrrha and Weiss approached. As they joined the conversation, however, a tap came on the microphone and the chatter died down to a minimum very quickly. On the stage, Pyrrha could see that Glynda was preparing to begin the assembly, but she also noted the people standing with Ozpin behind her. _Two of them are wearing the uniform of Haven Academy,_ Pyrrha realised, recalling seeing others wearing them during her time in Mistral. _Did some of the students arrive early?_

"If I could have your attention, students, we can begin this assembly," Glynda spoke into the microphone. "I will try to keep this brief, as I am aware many of you are eager for the weekend."

"You got that right," Nora whispered impatiently.

"As you all know, the students from the other three academies will be arriving during the course of this weekend," Glynda said. "As members of Beacon Academy, I expect you all to welcome them to Vale and to treat them as you would treat your friends and colleagues. However, the academies decided that, in order to allow the bulk of their students to get acquainted quicker and easier to Vale and Beacon, they would each send ahead two representatives to familiarise themselves with the city and the school, and help the other students find their way."

"Makes sense," Jaune muttered. "I couldn't make heads or tails of this place when I first arrived."

"And so, without further ado, I would like to introduce the following students from their respective academies," Glynda said, inviting the students to step forward. "From Shade Academy, Brawnz Ni and May Zedong. From Atlas Academy, Flynt Coal and Neon Katt. And lastly, from Haven Academy, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai."

Pyrrha's mind automatically began to analyse the students as they introduced themselves to the students. Even though they were all wearing their respective uniforms, she was able to pick up on a few subtle things that seemed to reflect the personalities of the students. The boy named Flynt wore dark glasses and a fedora, possibly hinting to a more classical personality. The girl named Neon had streaks of blue in her hair and her uniform was also slightly altered to be more colourful, something that Pyrrha assumed reflected a more carefree personality.

"The two from Haven seem pretty confident in themselves," Ren noted.

 _He's not wrong,_ Pyrrha thought to herself as Glynda continued to speak about the Vytal Festival preparations. The boy name Mercury had a constant slight grin on his face, and his stance radiated confidence, although he didn't strike her as a show off. Emerald was a bit harder to pick. She seemed to be eyeing off the students one by one, no doubt analysing them as Pyrrha was to her. Suddenly, their eyes locked, and for a moment Pyrrha almost seemed to see a sadness behind them. That vanished as quickly as it came, however, as the girl with green hair smiled at her then gazed away.

"However, there is one final thing before you all go," Glynda said after finishing her spiel on the Vytal Festival. "As you know, the Vytal Festival is a test of strength and skill. Combatants face off with the ultimate goal of winning the title for their team. A suggestion, therefore, has been put forward by young Mercury here. Mercury?"

"Thank you, Professor Goodwitch," Mercury said, taking to the microphone. "It's quite simple. Myself and the others on this stage are here to fight in the Vytal Festival, but that's two months from now. So I propose an exhibition match today, to commemorate the arrival of the students from the other academies."

"Additionally, the students from the other academies will be joining your classes during the next two months, not only to keep up on their studies, but also to get to know their opponents better before the tournament begins," Glynda chimed in. "Knowledge is the most powerful weapon you have, after all."

"So let's have a fight right after this assembly," Mercury said, much to the approval of some of the students. "And, I know this is a little bit selfish, but I wish to be the one to fight, along with one of you. Is Pyrrha Nikos among us?"

 _Wait, me?_ "Yes, over here!" Nora answered for her, waving her arms dramatically to get Mercury's attention.

"What do you say, Pyrrha? Up for it?" Mercury asked.

"I'd be happy to oblige," she answered, nodding slightly through the embarrassment of Nora's actions. _Here we go again…_

"Fantastic," Glynda said, taking back to microphone. "For those who wish to remain and see the fight, please head up the stairs to the observation area. Additionally, I would ask the participants to prepare as quickly as possible for the fight. That is all. You are dismissed."

Surprisingly, Ruby was the first to speak to Pyrrha. "Ahhhh, I can't believe you're fighting the new guy!" she said enthusiastically. "I wonder what kind of weapon he uses. Ooh, maybe it's a sword of some kind. Or maybe a mace?"

"Ruby, hush," Weiss instructed. "I'm more curious about why you were singled out, Pyrrha. I mean, I get that you're famous and all, but you're still only first-year…"

"Perhaps he's a fan?" Yang offered. "Might just be snatching a chance to fight his idol."

"Guys, it's fine," Pyrrha insisted. "I don't mind that he singled me out. Besides, it'll be good practise ahead of the Vytal Festival."

"It's possible that he's trying to gauge how he stands up against a powerful opponent," Ren suggested. "It would be a good way to find out where his team might stand come the Vytal Festival."

"Just go out there and do Beacon proud, okay Pyrrha?" Jaune said. "We'll be up in the stands watching. Good luck!"

After leaving the rest of her team and Team RWBY behind and calling in her equipment from the armoury, Pyrrha felt her mind beginning to slip into its battle rhythm and didn't resist it. Soon, she began to see things that she wouldn't have otherwise was she not focussed in. As she put on her chest piece, she noted steps heading towards her, and the distinct metal clunk that came with them.

"Just wanted to say good luck before the fight," Mercury said as he came to a standstill, now wearing a grey and black jacket and black pants.

"Thank you," Pyrrha replied. "Hopefully it's entertaining for everyone."

"That's what it's all for, right? The Vytal Festival and all that?" Mercury asked rhetorically. "Entertain the masses, serve as a reminder of the treaty and all that."

"Do you not like the festival?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not at all, Miss Nikos," Mercury said defensively. "Just making an observation. Anyway, I'll see you out on the field."

Pyrrha watched the newcomer leave as she fitted the final bit of her armour into place. Although he had seemed sincere enough, there was something about him that struck her as odd. _He's remarkably confident for someone of his age,_ she thought to herself. _I wonder what his fighting style will be. He didn't seem to be carrying any weapons, which means they're either concealed for now like Ren's occasionally are, or it has to do with his boots…_ In the end, she decided that it was more than likely going to be related to his feet, given the sound she had heard when he had walked past her. And so, as she too began to head out into the amphitheatre, which had been completely cleared for the fight, she brought all the kick-based fighting styles she knew of to the front of her mind. _Let's hope I'm right._

"Alright students, if we could have some quiet, we can get this fight underway," Glynda said over the speakers. The sound died down immediately.

Walking toward the centre of the room, Pyrrha watched Mercury closely as he too did the same, the ever-present smirk still spread across his face. She found his confidence off-putting, but she was all too aware of the pitfalls that came with it. _I might be able to turn that confidence against him, cause him to push too much. It might give me a few openings._ Curling her fingers around Milò, she prepared herself for his charge.

To her satisfaction, that was exactly what he did. Front-flipping forward, Mercury brought down his right leg over her head, something that she easily deflected with Akoùo. The deflection pushed him to her right, and he quickly replied by swinging his right foot around his body, aiming to slide past her shield and hit her in the side. Pyrrha deflected it again, although she could feel the weight behind the blows, as well as the sound they made. _His weapons are his boots,_ she confirmed to herself. _And he has incredible strength. But I can't pin down the fighting style…_

Three quick kicks from Mercury with his right foot were deflected by Akoùo, before Pyrrha slashed at his body as soon as the third strike was deflected. However, her opponent quickly dodged out the way, doing a couple of backwards somersaults to put some distance between them. _He's fast too…_ Giving her barely any time to capture her thoughts, Mercury came at here again, delivering four kicks aimed at her head, two with each foot that she once again had to defend against with her shield. However, upon landing, Pyrrha took advantage of the opening and slammed into him with her shield, sending him flying. However, her opponent recovered remarkably fast, backflipping once again into a standing position. _He's combining styles,_ Pyrrha realised as she switched Milò into its rifle form. _No wonder I can't pin down his technique…_

Deciding to change to offence, Pyrrha fired off five rounds from her rifle, all of which were deflected by Mercury as he stopped the momentum with the bottom of his boots. _Bulletproof…_ Switching Milò back to its Xiphos form, she flipped the handle around so that the tip of the blade was now pointing at the ground diagonally behind her, braced for her opponent who was now charging at her once again. However, this time Mercury jumped at her with both soles pointed toward her body. Raising her shield, she took all of her opponent's momentum onto her arm as he bounced off, his feet exploding as he did so, causing Pyrrha to momentarily lose her balance. _He has guns in his boots…_

The small gap was all that her opponent needed. Landing like a cat on his feet, Mercury quickly got off four consecutive kicks to the shield, the last one ripping it out of Pyrrha's grip and sending it flying across the floor. Taking care not to lose her composure, Pyrrha dived underneath a roundhouse kick to her head toward Akoùo, picking it back up in one smooth motion. However, as she turned back to her opponent, all she could see was the sole of his right boot coming down over her head. _No time…_ Activating her semblance, Pyrrha lifted her shield above her head and used her semblance to slightly shift the angle of the boot's fall to her right, causing the boot to slip harmlessly off the side of the shield and causing Mercury to fall next to her. Pyrrha, though, was more concerned with how far the boot had moved under her semblance's influence. _It shouldn't have been pushed that far…_

Turning her attention back to the fight, Pyrrha pounced on Mercury as he attempted to get up, slashing at his chest with Milò and causing him to fall back once again. Making sure that he didn't get a chance to regain his composure, Pyrrha slammed into him with Akoùo once again when he tried to right himself once more, sending him flying across the room once again. As Mercury got to his feet once more, Pyrrha prepared to charge him, but that thought was quickly cut short as Mercury turned towards Glynda.

"I surrender," he said.

"I… what?" Pyrrha asked in confusion. "You don't even want to see how it'll go?"

"I'm clearly outmatched," Mercury said with a shrug. "It was my mistake in challenging you. I suppose I've got a lot of work to do before the Vytal Festival."

"Right, well since Mercury has forfeited, that ends the sparring match," Glynda announced. "Students, you may leave now. Enjoy your weekend, and remember to come back next week fresh and ready for classes!"

Murmurs began to break out the moment the last word left Glynda's mouth. However, Pyrrha was Mercury sceptically as he left the arena. _There's no way he didn't notice his boot moving,_ she thought to herself. _But why did it move as much as it did? I didn't apply enough force to his boots to make him move that much, so I wonder what happened there…_ Not only that, she didn't like how easily he had surrendered to her. Despite his reasoning, he had been going toe-to-toe with her before then, and there was no doubt in her mind that he was aware of that fact. _Just what is he playing at? Is this some sort of mind game ahead of the Vytal Festival?_

Sighing in frustration as she though up no answers, Pyrrha turned away from the arena and began to head back to the place she had walked up to get there, only to see both Team RWBY and her own teammates waiting for her. She smiled lightly and sighed to herself. _Oh well. Time for the weekend._

* * *

Sunday morning came, and Pyrrha found herself armed and wandering around Vale with Jaune, Ren, Ruby and Weiss. Nora and Yang had been accompanying them earlier, but they had left to go and get breakfast, and Blake had decided she had reading to catch up on and had remained behind. The students from Vacuo had arrived the day before, and they could see a few of them already wandering the city and getting used to their surroundings. As they wandered along the waterfront, though, Pyrrha noted a rather large ship was docked in the harbour, and there was a large gathering of people on the waterfront near it.

"Ooh, do you think that's one of the student ships?" Ruby wondered.

"I'd imagine the Atlas student body will be arriving via airship," Weiss commented. "If it is, then it's most likely Haven Academy that has arrived."

"It'll be interesting to see what kind of fighters they have," Ren said.

"Just image all the cool weapons!" Ruby said giddily. "Can we go meet them? Pleeeeeeease?"

"It's on the way to the museum I wanted to visit, so I'd be happy to," Ren said.

"I'll go too," Weiss declared. "Someone's got to keep you under control, Ruby. What about you two?"

"Uh, well, Pyrrha wanted to take me to find some more training videos," Jaune said.

"Again? Aren't you pushing him a little hard, Pyrrha?" Weiss asked.

"Perhaps, but hard work is the only way to learn," Pyrrha answered.

"Besides, I'm not complaining," Jaune added. "I surprise myself sometimes with how far my fighting has come already."

"Well, suit yourself," Weiss said. "Come, let us go and see these newcomers."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Ruby shouted before skipping off along the harbour.

"We'll meet you at Rosemary's for lunch," Ren said quickly. "Just call us if you can't make it."

"Sure thing, Ren," Jaune said. "Just make sure Ruby doesn't pass out from excitement, okay?"

Pyrrha led Jaune diagonally through the city towards the place she wanted to visit. Although they would have to take a roundabout route through the leisure district of the city, Pyrrha didn't mind it too much. It was rather peaceful compared to other regions of the city of Vale, and it was good to be able to just walk alongside Jaune in silence as they took in the beauty of the morning. However, that peacefulness was quickly shattered as they began to hear yelling that appeared to be coming from the courtyard nearby. Looking at each other in concern, it quickly became apparent just who the voices belonged to.

"Nora and Yang," Jaune noted. "Whose idea was it again to leave those two alone?"

"No idea," Pyrrha admitted. "We'd better find them."

Drawing their weapons just in case the fighting broke out before they got there, Pyrrha and Jaune rushed into the courtyard to see that Yang and Nora were drawing the attention of everyone else in the courtyard, with no one daring to go near them. The two seemed on the verge of snapping, and Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder what on earth had happened to bring them to this point. _I thought they were going to get breakfast…_

"Waffles can hold the syrup within their shape!" Yang yelled furiously.

 _Oh._

"But pancakes taste better!" Nora screamed back.

"No, they don't!" Yang persisted. "Waffles are far superior in every way!"

"You take that back," Nora said ominously.

Yang crossed her arms, as if to challenge her. "No."

Pyrrha blinked and the next thing she saw was Yang flying through the air, Nora with Magnhild in sledgehammer form in her hands. Yang landed a fair distance away, having flown over the heads of now fleeing pedestrians, and upon righting herself expanded her gauntlets.

"Shouldn't we stop this?" Jaune asked warily, eyeing off the concerned civilians.

"You want to get between those two?" Pyrrha asked him, to which she got a swift no. "Exactly. Even for me, getting in between these two is a death sentence."

She considered using her semblance to take their weapons from them, but Pyrrha quickly realised that would do one of two things. Either they would both come after her to get their weapons back, or they would just keep fighting without them. Since she didn't fancy the idea of fending off a pissed off Nora and Yang at the same time, she decided the best thing to do was clear the area. Even though there was very little for the two of them to break in the courtyard, there were still some people who seemed glued to the ground by the spectacle.

"Get the civilians out of the area," Pyrrha told him. "There's nothing else we can really do now."

"Right," Jaune said with a nod.

As they began to get people out of the area, the fight began. Yang roared and ran at Nora, dodging incoming grenades fired from Nora's launcher. As she got in closer, Magnhild was switched back to its sledgehammer form, with Nora using the handle of the hammer to block Yang's gauntlet-charged fists as they came flying at her. Then, as Yang pulled back for another strike, Nora quickly charged forward, headbutting Yang in the face and causing her to tumble backwards, flipping onto her feet after one roll. However, as Yang lifted her head to face Nora, she was met with the swing of Magnhild, sending her flying to the far end of the courtyard.

"Take that, you blasphemer!" Nora yelled. "Pancakes will always be the best!"

Yang struggled to her feet. "No, waffles are!" she yelled defiantly.

Yang charged forward again, this time launching shots from Ember Celica as she did so. Nora dodged out of their path as she made her way toward Yang. Before they met, however, Nora launched into the air under an explosion from Magnhild, preparing to come down at Yang from on high. Realising what was about to happen, Yang stopped and dodged to her left as Nora spun twice and slammed Magnhild into the ground where Yang had just been standing, shattering the paving and sending bits of pavement flying in every direction as a small crater formed at her feet. Turning to Yang, the two of them charged at each other with a roar. Yang swung with her right fist, while Nora swung Magnhild past her body like a pendulum. The sledgehammer connected first, sending Yang flying once again, although this time she ended up slamming into the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, shattering it entirely.

"Great, just great!" Pyrrha heard Jaune exclaim from the other side of the courtyard.

It appeared neither of the combatants had noticed that Pyrrha and Jaune were watching, and so Pyrrha was not surprised in the slightest they neither noticed a teenager with blue hair enter the courtyard and begin to approach the duo, who were now standing next to each other thanks to Nora walking over to Yang. As the stranger approached, Nora slammed Magnhild into the ground and struck a victorious pose, while Yang wiped her mouth on her sleeve and stood up within a metre of Nora. _They're far from done,_ Pyrrha realised quickly.

"Ladies, please, enough with the fighting!" the blue-haired stranger said as he came to a standstill beside them. "If you're going to be doing any fighting, do it over me! At least that way there's a prize at the end, right?"

"Stay out of this!" Yang and Nora yelled at the same time, before simultaneously backhanding the newcomer and sending him flying to the edge of the courtyard.

"Wow, that was a bad idea," Jaune commented as they both approached the blue-haired teen, who was now being looked over by another teen, though this one was blonde and wore a white shirt. _And has a tail coming out of his back,_ Pyrrha noted silently as she took in the spectacle.

"Is he alright?" Jaune asked as they approached.

"He'll be fine, he can just be an idiot sometimes," the blonde boy replied, holding the dazed boy in his hands. "I'm Sun. Nice to meet you."

"Jaune," Jaune replied. "And this is Pyrrha."

"Does he do this sort of thing often?" Pyrrha inquired.

Sun nodded. "Unfortunately," the blonde Faunus sighed. "Neptune just never learns when it comes to the ladies…"

Behind them, the fight raged on. Yang dodged backwards as Nora swung Magnhild horizontally around her body, something that Yang couldn't afford to have hit her. However, as Nora brought the hammer back to herself to get ready for another heavy attack, Yang took the opportunity to step inside her guard, landing five hits to Nora's body before lining up one final strike. Aided by the firepower from Ember Celica, Nora was knocked off her feet and fell to the ground. As Yang readied herself to go in for the final blow, though, a familiar voice rang through the courtyard.

"Students, what in Remnant do you think you are doing?!"  
Pyrrha watched as the expression of both combatants turned from anger to horror. Standing at a different entrance was Glynda Goodwitch, and Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to meet the woman's eyes. She could sense the anger radiating from her direction, and she tried to make herself as small as possible as the woman approached Yang and Nora.

"Care to explain this?" Glynda asked furiously, referring to the destroyed courtyard.

"Oh, uh, hey Miss G!" Yang said nervously, scratching the back of her head with her right hand. "What a surprise seeing you here!"  
"Answer the question, Miss Xiao Long," Glynda glowered whilst going about fixing the courtyard.

"Ah, well you see, Nora here and myself decided we wanted to come to Vale for breakfast, and there may have been a _slight_ disagreement over what to get."

"Everyone knows pancakes are godly compared to waffles," Nora huffed. "Tell her, teach. Pancakes are so much better."

"You were fighting… over pancakes and waffles?" Glynda asked in astonishment.

"Waffles are better, but Nora won't admit it," Yang persisted.

Glynda sighed. "I'm too old for this," she said defeatedly. "Both of you are to report to Ozpin immediately. If you don't, I'll come track you down personally. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Yang muttered.

"Good," Glynda said, finishing the repairs. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to showing the Haven students around Vale. What a welcome this is..."

* * *

On the edge of the courtyard, Mercury smirked slightly as he watched the two fighters leave the scene of the battle. Beside him, Emerald seemed completely disinterested in what they had just witnessed, as she was instead eyeing off the civilians who could be seen from their position near one of the courtyard's entrances.

"Come on, can't you at least pretend to be interested in scouting the fighting styles of the students?" Mercury asked.

"They're going to lose anyway," Emerald pointed out. "It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things whether we know how they fight or not."

"True, but if we don't know how everyone fights then we won't be able to have fun with the 'randomisation process'," Mercury said, making a set of quotation marks with his fingers.

"Ugh, can we just go and deal with that Tukson guy now?" Emerald asked him.

Mercury sighed. "Fine," he said in a drawn-out tone as they made to leave. "You're no fun sometimes…"


End file.
